The  Lincoln 
Legion 


Lincoln   Highway  Edition 


GIFT   OF 

Intercollegiate 
•prohibition  association 


"A'cw,  sonny,  y^u  keep  that  pledge,  and  it  will  be  the 
best  act  of  your  life  /  " 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN    PLEDGES   CLEOPAS    BRECKENRIDGE   TO 
TOTAL   ABSTINENCE. 


THE   LINCOLN 
LEGION 


The 
Its   Founder   &%Fbrtt4ft   <rs; 


By 

Rev.  LOUIS  ALBERT  BANKS,  D.  D. 

AUTHOR     OF     "THE   HALL   OF   FAME,"      "THE   YOUTH   OF 

FAMOUS    AMERICANS,"     "HERO   TALES   FROM 

SACRED     STORY,"     "THE      GREAT 

PORTRAITS  OF  THE  BIBLE," 

ETC.,    ETC. 


Illustrated  with  Drawings  by 

ARTHUR    I.    KELLER 

And  Photographs 

NEW    YORK 
THE    MERSHON    COMPANY 

Presbyterian  Building,  156  Fifth  Ave. 


crvx 

r.v 


COPYRIGHT,  1903,  BY 
THE    MERSHON   COMPANY 

^4//  rights  reserved. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

THE  reader  of  this  volume  needs  to  bear 
in  mind  the  necessarily  restricted  scope  of 
the  book.  The  volume  is  intended  to 
awaken  interest  in  a  new  pledge-signing 
movement,  and  is,  therefore,  confined  in 
its  discussions  to  individuals,  societies,  and 
movements  which  have  been  peculiarly 
identified  with  urging  total  abstinence  and 
fostering  it  through  the  pledge  method. 
This  accounts  for  many  silences,  such  as 
that  concerning  the  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  the 
Nestor  of  Prohibitionists,  and  the  long  and 
noble  list  of  eloquent  and  self-sacrificing 
orators  and  workers  of  the  National  Pro 
hibition  Party,  and  in  other  lines  of 
temperance  effort.  We  have  treated  at 
some  length  the  Anti-Saloon  League,  be 
cause  its  Superintendent,  Dr.  Howard 
H.  Russell,  is  the  author  of  the  new  move- 

5 

761995 


6  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

ment,  and  it  is  chiefly  through  tlie  League,  as 
representing  all  the  churches,  that  the  "  Lin 
coln  Legion  "  is  to  be  carried  forward. 
Louis  ALBERT  BANKS. 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  June  23,  1903. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  HEROIC  YOUNG  LINCOLN  AS  A  TOTAL 

ABSTAINER, 13 

II.    LINCOLN  AT  SOUTH  FORK  SCHOOLHOUSE,     .  29 

III.  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN    AS     A    TEMPERANCE 

ORATOR, 51 

IV.  FATHER  MATTHEW  AND  His    CAREER,        .  79 
V.    THE   WASHINGTONIANS  AND  OTHER  TOTAL 

ABSTINENCE  SOCIETIES,   ....  99 

VI.    JOHN  B.  GOUGH  AND  His  WORK,    .        .        .  121 
VII.    FRANCES  WILLARD  AND  THE  WHITE  RIBBON 

MOVEMENT 139 

VIII.    FRANCIS  MURPHY  AND  His  COLLEAGUES,       .  157 
IX.    HOWARD  H.  RUSSELL,  ORGANIZER  OF  THE 

ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE,    ....  173 

X.    THE  ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE,           .        .        .  195 

XI.    THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 225 

INDEX,  249 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  PLEDGES  CLEOPAS  BRECKEN- 
RIDGE  TO  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE.  (From  a  draw 
ing  by  A,  I.  Keller),  .  .  .  Frontispiece 

LINCOLN'S  APPEAL  FOR  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  AT 
SOUTH  FORK  SCHOOLHOUSE.  (From  a  drawing 
by  A.  I.  Keller) 36 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  HE  APPEARED  DURING  THE 
WASHINGTONIAN  MOVEMENT.  (From  an  Ambro- 
type) 60 

SURVIVORS  OF  THE  LINCOLN  MEETING  AT  THE 
SOUTH  FORK  SCHOOLHOUSE.  (From  a  photo 
graph  by  Ross,  Springfield),  ....  84 

PRESTON  BKECKENRIDGE  AND  CLEOPAS  BRECKEN- 

RIDGE.  (From  photograpJis) ,  ....  110 

Two  OF  THE  EARLY  SUPPORTERS  OF  THE  ANTI- 
SALOON  LEAGUE.  (From  photographs),  .  .  130 

GROUP  FROM  THE  EARLY  WORKING  FORCE  OF  THE 

ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE.     (From  photographs),      .     152 
HOWARD  H.  RUSSELL.    (Photograph  by  Baker,  Colum 
bus,  Ohio,  1893) 178 

FUNERAL  OF  A  MOTHER  DEAD  FROM  DRINK.    (From 

a  drawing  by  A.  I.  Keller), 206 

THE  OLD  "  FIRST  CHURCH,"  OBERLIN,  BIRTHPLACE 
OF  THE  OHIO  ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE.  (Photo 
graph  by  Ricet  Oberlin), 230 

9 


LET  US  BUILD  TO  THIS  TYPE 

.    .   .   Standing  like  a  tower, 

Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 

Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

— JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 

From  the  union  of  the  colonists,  Puritans 
and  Cavaliers,  from  the  straightening  of 
their  purposes  and  the  crossing  of  their 
blood,  slow  perfecting  through  a  century, 
came  he  who  stands  as  the  first  typical 
American,  the  first  who  comprehended 
within  himself  all  the  strength  and  gentle 
ness,  all  the  majesty  and  grace  of  this  re 
public — Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  was  the  sum  of  Puritan  and  Cavalier, 
for  in  his  ardent  nature  were  fused  the 
virtues  of  both,  and  in  the  depths  of  his 
great  soul  the  faults  of  both  were  lost. 
He  was  greater  than  Puritan,  greater  than 
Cavalier,  in  tliat  he  was  American. 

Let  u$  build  ivith  reverent  hands  to  the 
type  of  this  simple,  but  sublime  life,  in 
which  all  types  are  honored. — HENRY  W. 
GRADY,  of  Georgia.  From  his  speech  at  the 
New  England  Club,  New  York,  December 
21, 1886* 


THE    HEROIC    YOUNG    LINCOLN    AS 
A  TOTAL  ABSTAINER 


Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might, 
and  in  that  faith  as  to  the  end,  dare  to  do 
our  duty. — ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    HEROIC    YOUNG    LINCOLN    AS    A    TOTAL 
ABSTAINER 


A  BRAHAM  LINCOLN 
•A.A.  the  backwoods,  when  the  frontiers  of 
civilization  were  in  Indiana  and  Illinois. 
At  ten  years  of  age  he  could  handle  an  ax 
almost  equal  to  a  man,  drive  a  team,  man 
age  a  shovel-plow,  wield  the  sickle,  thresh 
wheat  with  a  flail,  fan  and  clean  it  with  a 
sheet,  and  go  to  mill  and  take  his  turn  with 
the  grist.  Even  at  that  age,  when  his 
father  did  not  need  him,  he  was  sent  out  to 
help  the  neighbors.  His  gaunt  figure  grew 
strong  as  iron,  bearing  the  heavy  loads 
under  which  it  struggled. 

Very  early  Lincoln  got  a  thirst  for  read 
ing.  He  had  only  chance  enough  at  school 
to  learn  to  read,  and  write,  and  "  cipher  to 
the  rule  of  three."  But  he  read  the  Bible, 

13 


14  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


Fables,  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bun- 
yan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Weems'  "  Life 
of  Washington,"  and  the  "  Statutes  of 
Indiana."  He  read  these  until  he  almost 
knew  them  by  heart,  and  then  he  searched 
the  country  around  for  other  books  to 
conquer,  among  them  Shakespeare  and 
We^itisV-Life  of  Marion."  He  once  told 
,  ...Leonard.  Swett  that  he  had  got  hold  of  and 
T'ead:  through  "every  book  he  ever  heard  of 
in  the  part  of  the  country  where  he  lived 
for  a  circuit  of  fifty  miles. 

It  is  hard  to-day  to  appreciate  the 
emptiness  and  poverty  of  a  life  like  Abra 
ham  Lincoln's  boyhood,  and  the  heroism 
that  came  off  victorious  over  such  condi 
tions. 

After  he  became  President,  one  day  at  a 
Cabinet  Meeting  Lincoln  said  to  Mr. 
Seward  : 

"  Seward,  did  you  ever  hear  how  I 
earned  my  first  dollar?  " 

"  No,"  said  Mr.  Seward. 
Well,"     replied     he,     "I     was     about 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  15 

eighteen  years  of  age,  and  belonged,  as 
you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  South, 
the  'scrubs ';  people  who  do  not  own  land 
and  slaves  are  nobody  there;  but  we  had 
succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly  by  my  labor, 
sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify 
me  in  taking  it  down  the  river  to  sell. 
After  much  persuasion  I  had  got  the  con 
sent  of  my  mother  to  go,  and  had  con 
structed  a  flat  boat,  large  enough  to  take 
the  few  barrels  of  things  we  had  gathered 
to  New  Orleans.  A  steamer  was  going 
down  the  river.  We  have,  you  know,  no 
wharves  on  the  Western  streams,  and  the 
custom  was,  if  passengers  were  at  any  of 
the  landings,  they  were  to  go  out  in  a  boat, 
the  steamer  stopping  and  taking  them  on 
board.  I  was  contemplating  my  new  boat, 
and  wondering  whether  I  could  make  it 
stronger  or  improve  it  in  any  part,  when 
two  men  with  trunks  came  down  to  the 
shore  in  carriages,  and  looking  at  the  dif 
ferent  boats  singled  out  mine,  and  asked, 
1  WTho  owns  this?  '  I  answered  modestly  <  I 


16  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

do.*  *  Will  you/  said  one  of  them,  '  take  us 
and  our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer?  '  <  Cer 
tainly/  said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the 
chance  of  earning  something,  and  sup 
posed  that  each  of  them  would  give  me  a 
couple  of  bits.  The  trunks  were  put  in  my 
boat.  The  passengers  seated  themselves 
on  them,  and  I  sculled  them  out  to  the 
steamer.  They  got  on  board,  and  I  lifted 
the  trunks  and  put  them  on  the  deck.  The 
steamer  was  about  to  put  on  steam  again, 
when  I  called  out,  '  You  have  forgotten  to 
pay  me.'  Each  of  them  took  from  his  pocket 
a  silver  half-dollar  and  threw  it  on  the 
bottom  of  my  boat.  I  could  scarcely  be 
lieve  my  eyes,  as  I  picked  up  the  money. 
You  may  think  it  was  a  very  little  thing, 
and  in  these  days  it  seems  to  me  like  a 
trifle,  but  it  was  a  most  important  inci 
dent  in  my  life.  I  could  scarcely  credit 
that  I,  the  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar 
in  less  than  a  day;  that  by  honest  work  I 
had  earned  a  dollar.  I  was  a  more  hope 
ful  and  thoughtful  boy  from  that  time." 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  17 

From  childhood,  Abraham  Lincoln  had 
a  gentle  and  tender  nature.  His  step 
mother,  who  came  into  the  home  when  he 
was  ten  years  of  age,  said  of  him  after  he 
was  dead: 

"  Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say 
what  scarcely  one  woman — a  mother — can 
say  in  a  thousand.  Abe  never  gave  me  a 
cross  word  or  look,  and  never  refused,  in 
fact  or  appearance,  to  do  anything  I  re 
quested  him.  I  never  gave  him  a  cross 
word  in  all  my  life.  His  mind  and  mine — 
what  little  I  had — seemed  to  run  together. 
He  was  here  after  he  was  elected  President. 
He  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always.  I  think 
he  loved  me  truly.  I  had  a  son,  John,  who 
was  raised  with  Abe.  Both  were  good  boys, 
but  I  must  say,  both  now  being  dead,  that 
Abe  was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect 
to  see." 

Young  Lincoln  early  developed  a  spirit  of 
helpfulness  toward  the  weak,  or  anyone  or 
anything  that  was  in  trouble.  The  thought 
less  cruelty  to  animals  so  common  to  chil- 


18  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

dren  brought  up  among  rude  conditions,  was 
never  engaged  in  or  enjoyed  by  him.  While 
yet  a  boy  he  wrote  essays  on  "  Cruelty 
to  Animals,"  and  never  failed  to  make 
his  protest  on  seeing  any  dumb  creature 
abused. 

A  striking  instance  of  this  kind  and  help 
ful  spirit  is  referred  to  by  several  of  his 
biographers.  One  evening,  while  returning 
from  a  "  raising  "  in  the  neighborhood,  with 
a  number  of  companions,  he  discovered  a 
straying  horse,  with  saddle  and  bridle  upon 
him.  The  horse  was  recognized  as  belong 
ing  to  a  man  who  was  accustomed  to  excess 
in  drink,  and  it  was  suspected  at  once  that 
the  owner  was  not  far  off.  A  short  search 
only  was  necessary  to  confirm  the  suspicion 
of  the  young  men.  The  poor  drunkard  was 
found  in  a  perfectly  helpless  condition, 
upon  the  chilly  ground.  Abraham's  com 
panions  urged  the  cowardly  policy  of  leav 
ing  him  to  his  fate,  but  young  Lincoln  would 
not  listen  to  the  proposition.  At  his  request, 
the  miserable  sot  was  lifted  to  his  shoulders, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


and  he  actually  carried  him  eighty  rods  to 
the  nearest  house.  Sending  word  to  his 
father  that  he  would  not  be  back  that  night, 
with  the  reason  for  his  absence,  he  attended 
and  nursed  the  man  until  the  morning,  and 
had  the  pleasure  of  believing  that  he  had 
saved  his  life. 

When  Lincoln  was  nineteen  years  of  age 
he  visited  New^  Orleans  in  charge  of  a  neigh 
bor's  flatboat,  and  while  there  witnessed  a 
slave  auction.  Mr.  Herndon  says  that  he 
often  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  refer  to  this  experi 
ence: 

"  In  New  Orleans  for  the  first  time,"  he 
writes,  "  Lincoln  beheld  the  true  horrors  of 
human  slavery.  He  saw  negroes  in  chains 
—  whipped,  and  scourged.  Against  this  in 
humanity  his  sense  of  right  and  justice  re 
belled,  and  his.  mind  and  conscience  wrere 
awakened  to  a  realization  of  what  he  had 
often  heard  and  read.  No  doubt,  as  one  of 
his  companions  has  said,  '  slavery  ran  the 
iron  into  him  then  and  there.'  One  morn 
ing,  in  their  rambles  over  the  city,  the  tria 


20  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

passed  a  slave  auction.  A  vigorous  and 
comely  mulatto  girl  was  being  sold.  She 
underwent  a  thorough  examination  at  the 
hands  of  the  bidders ;  they  pinched  her  flesh, 
and  made  her  trot  up  and  down  the  room 
like  a  horse,  to  show  how  she  moved,  and,  in 
order,  as  the  auctioneer  said,  that  t  bidders 
might  satisfy  themselves  whether  the  article 
they  were  offering  to  buy  was  sound  or  not* 
The  whole  thing  was  so  revolting  that  Lin 
coln  moved  away  from  the  scene  with  a 
deep  feeling  of  '  unconquerable  hate.'  Bid 
ding  his  companions  follow  him,  he  said: 
*  Boys,  let's  get  away  from  this.  If  I  ever 
get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing  [meaning 
slavery],  I'll  hit  it  hard.'" 

It  is  not  possible  for  us  to  follow  the  story 
of  this  young  and  heroic  figure  through  all 
his  struggles  as  clerk  in  a  country  store, 
and  surveyor's  helper,  always  working 
against  odds,  always  climbing  to  something 
better,  always  the  manly  youth,  but  con 
stantly  handicapped  by  poverty.  His  life 
long  friend,  Joshua  Speed,  gives  us  a  most 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  21 

lifelike  portraiture  of  the  beginning  of  Lin 
coln's  career  as  a  lawyer.     He  says : 

"  He  had  ridden  into  town  on  a  borrowed 
horse,  with  no  earthly  property  save  a  pair 
of  saddle-bags  containing  a  few  clothes.  I 
was  a  merchant  at  Springfield,  and  kept  a 
large  country  store,  embracing  dry  goods, 
groceries,  hardware,  books,  medicines,  bed 
clothes,  mattresses — in  fact,  everything  that 
the  country  needed.  Lincoln  came  into  the 
store  with  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm.  He 
said  he  wanted  to  buy  the  furniture  for  a 
single  bed.  The  mattress,  blankets,  sheets, 
coverlid,  and  pillow,  according  to  the 
figures  made  by  me,  would  cost  seventeen 
dollars.  He  said  that,  perhaps,  was  cheap 
enough ;  but,  small  as  the  price  was,  he  was 
unable  to  pay  it.  But  if  I  would  credit  him 
till  Christmas,  and  his  experiment  as  a  law 
yer  was  a  success,  he  would  pay  then ;  say 
ing  in  the  saddest  tone,  '  If  I  fail  in  this,  I 
do  not  know  that  I  can  ever  pay  you/  As 
I  looked  up  at  him,  I  thought  then,  and  I 
think  now,  that  I  never  saw  a  sadder  face. 


22  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

"  I  said  to  him :  l  You  seem  to  be  so  much 
pained  at  contracting  so  small  a  debt,  I 
think  I  can  suggest  a  plan  by  which  you  can 
avoid  the  debt,  and  at  the  same  time  attain 
your  end.  I  have  a  large  room,  with  a 
double  bed,  upstairs,  which  you  are  very 
welcome  to  share  with  me.' 

"  '  Where  is  your  room?  '  said  he. 

"  i  Upstairs/  said  I,  pointing  to  a  pair  of 
winding  stairs  which  led  from  the  store  to 
my  room. 

"  He  took  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm, 
went  upstairs,  set  them  on  the  floor,  and 
came  down  with  the  most  changed  expres 
sion  of  countenance.  Beaming  with  pleas 
ure,  he  exclaimed : 

"  '  Well,  Speed,  I  am  moved.'  " 

Abraham  Lincoln,  throughout  his  life, 
boy  and  man,  always  stood  for  temperance. 
Far  back  in  his  Indiana  boyhood,  the  first 
essay  he  ever  wrote,  was  on  the  subject  of 
Temperance.  A  local  Baptist  preacher  was 
so  struck  with  its  merit  that  he  secured 
it  from  the  boy,  and  sent  it  to  Ohio, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  2S 

where  it  is  said  to  have  appeared  in  a 
newspaper. 

Soon  after  coming  to  Springfield  to  prac 
tice  law,  he  joined  the  Sons  of  Temperance^ 
and,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapters, 
frequently  made  temperance  speeches,  of 
very  effective  character. 

The  story  is  told  by  Judge  Weldon  that 
he  was  once  in  the  room  with  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  when  Lincoln  entered.  Douglas^ 
desiring  to  show  his  hospitality,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  customs  of  the  times,  brought 
out  a  bottle  of  whisky,  and  some  glasses,  and 
invited  his  callers  to  take  a  drink  with  him. 
Lincoln  respectfully  declined  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  always  been  a  temperance  man, 
and  felt  that  he  was  too  old  to  change. 

Leonard  Swett  tells  us  that  Lincoln  told 
him  not  more  than  a  year  before  he  was 
elected  President  that  he  had  never  tasted 
liquor  in  his  life.  "  What !  "  said  Swett, 
"  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  never  tasted 
it?"  "Yes,"  replied  Lincoln,  "I  never 
tasted  it."  When  we  take  into  considera- 


'24  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

tion  the  habits  of  the  time,  this  is  a  most 
remarkable  testimony  to  Lincoln's  'temper 
ance  principles,  the  stability  of  his  charac 
ter,  and  the  iron  quality  of  his  will-power. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Coffin,  a  most  distinguished 
journalist  of  the  day,  who  accompanied  the 
notification  committee  from  the  Chicago 
Convention  to  Springfield,  at  the  time  of 
Lincoln's  first  nomination  for  the  Presi 
dency  of  the  United  States,  related  in  his 
newspaper  a  few  days  later  an  incident  that 
occurred  on  that  occasion.  He  says  that, 
after  the  exchange  of  formalities,  Lincoln 
said: 

"  Mrs.  Lincoln  will  be  pleased  to  see  you, 
gentlemen.  You  will  find  her  in  the  other 
room.  You  must  be  thirsty  after  your  long 
ride.  You  will  find  a  pitcher  of  water  in  the 
library." 

The  newspaper  man  crossed  the  hall,  and 
entered  the  library.  There  were  miscel 
laneous  books  on  the  shelves,  two  globes, 
celestial  and  terrestrial,  in  the  corners  of  the 
room,  and  a  plain  table,  with  writing  ma- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  25 

terials  upon  it,  a  pitcher  of  cold  water,  and 
glasses,  and  no  wines  or  liquors.  There 
was  humor  in  the  invitation  to  take  a  glass 
of  water,  which  was  explained  to  Mr.  Coffin 
by  a  citizen  of  Springfield,  who  said  that, 
when  it  was  known  that  the  committee  was 
coming,  several  citizens  called  upon  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  informed  him  that  some  enter 
tainment  must  be  provided. 

"  Yes,  that  is  so.  What  ought  to  be  done? 
Just  let  me  know,  and  I  will  attend  to  it,"  he 
said. 

"  Oh,  we  will  supply  the  needful  liquors," 
said  his  friends. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  I  thank 
you  for  your  kind  attention,  but  must  re 
spectfully  decline  your  offer.  I  have  no 
liquors  in  my  house,  and  have  never  been  in 
the  habit  of  entertaining  my  friends  in  that 
way.  I  cannot  permit  my  friends  to  do  for 
me  what  I  will  not  myself  do.  I  shall  pro 
vide  cold  water — nothing  else." 

The  Hon.  John  Hay,  the  present  Secre 
tary  of  State,  and  one  of  Lincoln's  secre- 


26  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

taries  and  biographers,  has  declared  that 
Lincoln  was  a  man  of  extremely  temperate 
habits,  and  that  he  made  no  use  of  either 
whisky  or  tobacco  during  all  the  years  of 
his  association  with  him. 

Mr.  John  G.  Nicolay,  his  private  secre 
tary,  and  a  joint  biographer  with  Secretary 
Hay,  says :  "  During  all  the  five  years  of 
my  service  as  his  private  secretary,  I  never 
saw  him  drink  a  glass  of  whisky,  and  I  never 
knew  or  heard  of  his  taking  one." 

From  all  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  in  his  heroic  struggle  against 
poverty  and  hard  conditions,  in  his  victory 
over  the  vicious  habits  and  customs  of  the 
day  in  which  he  lived,  in  the  fidelity  to  prin 
ciple,  and  in  the  cleanliness  and  purity  of 
his  personal  habits  of  life,  stands  out  before 
us  as  an  ideal  leader  of  the  new  army  of 
total  abstainers  to  which  his  name  has  been 
given. 


LINCOLN     AT     SOUTH     FORK 
SCHOOLHOUSE 


In  Lincoln  there  was  always  some  quality 
that  fastened  him  to  the  people,  and  taught 
them  to  keep  time  to  the  music  of  his 
heart.— DAVID  SWING. 


CHAPTER  II 

LINCOLN    AT    SOUTH    FORK    SCHOOLHOUSE 

THERE  is  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  in  Mr. 
Roland  Diller's  home,  on  Seventh 
Street,  a  legislative  desk,  which  is  notable 
because  it  is  the  desk  which  Abraham  Lin 
coln  used  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  Leg 
islature,  between  1830  and  1840.  The  desk 
is  an  interesting  relic,  also,  because  it  shows 
the  primitive  furniture  of  the  Illinois  State 
Capitol  of  those  days.  His  biographers  have 
noticed  it  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  habit  to  write 
his  name  upon  books,  papers,  and  other 
belongings,  and,  following  that  practice, 
Lincoln  left  his  autograph  heavily  marked 
with  a  lead  pencil  inside  the  drawer  of  this 
desk,  so  that,  to  this  day,  any  student  of 
autographs  easily  recognizes  Lincoln's 
unique  handwriting.  This,  with  abundant 
other  evidence,  identifies  beyond  question 


30  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  desk  as  actually  having  been  the  one 
used  by  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Early  in  1900,  Dr.  Howard  Russell,  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League, 
visited  Diller's  drug  store  in  Springfield, 
where  the  desk  then  stood,  to  look  at  this 
relic  of  the  great  war  President,  Mr.  Diller 
gave  Russell  many  interesting  facts  regard 
ing  Lincoln.  Diller  was  born  in  1822,  so  he  is 
now  an  old  man,  eighty-one  years  of  age.  He 
lives  on  the  next  corner,  a  block  away  from 
Mr.  Lincoln's  home,  and  has  lived  there 
since  1844.  He  was  not  only  a  neighbor,  but 
an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  his 
drug  store  was  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  favorite 
haunts,  where  politics  were  discussed  and 
stories  told.  When  Dr.  Russell  told  Diller 
of  the  Temperance  Reform  work  in  which 
he  was  engaged,  the  druggist  told  him  that 
Mr.  Lincoln,  from  the  time  Diller  first  knew 
him  in  1844,  to  the  time  of  his  death,  was 
always  a  most  pronounced  temperance  man ; 
that  he  never  used  intoxicating  liquor  in 
any  form,  and  that  he  was  most  earnest  and 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  31 

active  in  connection  with  the  various  reform 
movements  of  his  day. 

During  this  conversation,  Mr.  Diller  in 
formed  Russell  of  an  incident  that  left  a 
very  strong  impression  on  Russell's  mind. 
He  said  there  was  living  in  Sangamon 
County  a  farmer  named  Cleopas  Brecken- 
ridge.  This  Mr.  Breckenridge,  Diller  said, 
had  a  most  interesting  personal  reminis 
cence  concerning  Abraham  Lincoln,  which 
had  never  been  printed,  and  though  he  lived 
sixteen  miles  from  Springfield,  Diller  was 
sure  that  Mr.  Breckenridge  was  so  enthu 
siastic  a  temperance  man  that  he  would  be 
glad  to  meet  the  Superintendent  of  tlie  Anti- 
Saloon  League  some  time  in  Springfield, 
and  personally  state  the  facts  to  him. 

A  few  months  later,  Dr.  Russell,  finding 
that  he  was  going  to  be  in  Springfield  on  a 
certain  day,  wrote  Mr.  Diller  and  asked  him 
to  communicate  with  Mr.  Breckenridge,  and 
request  him,  if  possible,  to  meet  him  there 
that  day,  and  to  inform  him  of  the  purpose 
for  which  he  wished  to  see  him.  Sure 


32  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

enough,  Breckenridge  drove  sixteen  miles 
upon  a  stormy  day,  and  met  Russell  as  ar 
ranged  at  the  Leland  Hotel  in  Springfield, 
where  he  told  him  the  following  story, 
which  now  for  the  first  time  sees  the  pub 
licity  of  print : 

"  When  I  was  a  boy,"  said  Breckenridge, 
"  about  ten  years  of  age,  in  the  summer  of 
1846  or  1847,  I  lived  with  my  father  upon 
the  same  farm  which  I  now  own  in  Cotton 
Hill  township  in  this  county.  We  were 
very  poor.  My  father  was  above  the  average 
in  intelligence,  but  he  had  a  large  family, 
and  was  in  debt,  so  that  while  we  had 
enough  to  eat,  we  lived  very  plainly.  My 
mother  had  died  a  short  time  before  I  was 
ten  years  old,  and  my  father  in  those  days 
was  doing  the  best  he  could  to  be  father  and 
mother  both  to  us  children.  One  day,  in 
the  summer  of  1846  or  1847,  my  father  came 
home,  and  told  us  that  there  would  be  a 
temperance  meeting  held  at  the  new  school- 
house,  and  that  we  could  all  go  to  the  meet 
ing  if  we  wished  to  do  so.  Most  of  the 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  33 

family  attended  the  meeting,  though  I  be 
lieve  my  older  brother  Alexander  was  away 
from  home,  and  did  not  go.  The  school- 
house  had  been  recently  built,  and  the 
boughs  of  the  trees  from  which  the  logs  had 
been  cut  to  build  the  house  were  scattered 
about  on  the  ground  in  front  of  the  house, 
and  there  were  also  some  logs  which  had  not 
been  used  in  the  building,  lying  about  upon 
the  ground.  Some  trees  had  been  left  for  a 
shade,  and  as  the  day  was  warm,  the  meet 
ing  was  held  under  the  trees  instead  of  in 
the  schoolhouse.  The  people  sat  about  on 
the  boughs  of  the  trees,  and  upon  the  logs. 
The  speaker  on  the  occasion  was  a  young 
lawyer  from  Springfield  who  already  had 
gained  a  reputation  as  a  public  speaker, 
and  the  announcement  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  to  speak,  called  out  a  large  crowd, 
almost  all  the  families  in  that  part  of  the 
county  being  represented. 

"  The  speaker  made  a  very  earnest  appeal 
for  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  all  in 
toxicating  drinks.  He  gave  reasons  why  he 


34  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

was  in  favor  of  total  abstinence,  and  why  he 
thought  others  should  become  total  ab 
stainers.  About  the  time  he  finished  his 
address,  he  took  a  paper  out  of  his  pocket. 
*  This/  said  he,  '  is  what  is  called  the 
'  Washingtonian  Pledge !  It  is  the  same 
pledge  many  thousands  of  people  have 
signed  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the 
Washingtonian  Society  throughout  the 
country.  I  have  signed  this  pledge  my 
self  and  would  be  glad  to  have  as  many  of 
my  neighbors  who  are  willing  to  do  so,  sign 
the  same  pledge  with  me.'  The  pledge  was 
passed  from  one  to  another  and  was  signed 
by  a  good  many  of  those  present.  After  a 
number  had  signed,  the  first  thing  I  knew 
the  speaker  was  standing  in  front  of  me. 
He  said  to  me: '  Sonny,  don't  you  want  your 
name  on  this  pledge?'  I  said:  '  Yes,  sir.' 
He  said : '  You  know  what  it  means,  that  you 
are  not  to  drink  intoxicating  liquor? '  I 
said :  i  Yes,  sir.'  He  asked  me  my  name 
and  I  told  him,  Cleopas  Breckenridge.  He 
wrote  my  name  upon  the  paper,  then  he 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  35 

transferred  the  pencil  to  his  left  hand,  and 
holding  the  paper  and  pencil  in  his  left 
hand,  he  leaned  over  and  laid  his  right  hand 
upon  my  head  and  said :  '  Now,  Sonny,  you 
keep  that  pledge,  and  it  will  be  the  best  act 
of  your  life.'  THE  SPEAKER  WHO  ADDRESSED 

THAT  MEETING,  AND  WHO  WROTE  MY  NAME 
UPON  THE  PLEDGE,  WAS  ABRAHAM  LIN 
COLN." 

Dr.  Russell  asked  Breckenridge  what 
made  him  sure  that  the  speaker  was  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  He  replied  that  from  time  to 
time  afterwards,  he  often  saw  Mr.  Lincoln 
at  Springfield,  and  at  other  places  in  Sanga- 
mon  County,  that  he  frequently  heard  him 
speak,  and  that  on  several  occasions  he  was 
present  when  Mr.  Lincoln  entertained  a 
crowd  about  him  by  conversation  and 
stories.  He  said  also  that  Mr.  Lincoln  on 
numerous  occasions  attended  to  law  busi 
ness  for  his  father,  Preston  Breckenridge, 
and  that  it  was  his  father's  influence  and 
invitation  together  with  the  request  of  other 
neighbors,  that  caused  Mr.  Lincoln  to  come 


36  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

and  address  the  meeting  at  the  schoolhouse 
that  day.  Russell  asked  Mr.  Breckenridge 
why  Lincoln  signed  the  pledge  for  him.  He 
said  he  could  not  write  his  name  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  ask  him  whether 
he  could  write  his  name  or  not,  but  knowing 
that  boys  of  his  age  were  usually  unable  to 
write  at  that  period,  Lincoln  signed  his 
name  for  him.  Mr.  Breckenridge  then  con 
tinued  his  story  as  follows: 

"  I  felt  that  I  was  under  solemn  obliga 
tion  to  keep  the  pledge  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  signed  for  me,  and  I  did  keep  it  and 
have  kept  it  up  to  the  present  time.  In  the 
year  1857,  when  I  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  I  went  to  Colorado  and  kept  a  tavern 
there  for  two  years  upon  the  trail  across  the 
plains  at  a  point  about  fifty  miles  east  of 
Denver.  Friends  advised  me  to  buy  a  bar 
rel  of  whisky  and  mix  with  it  a  barrel  of 
river  water  and  sell  the  liquor  and  make 
some  money,  but  I  said :  '  No,  I  never  drink 
it  and  I  will  not  sell  it/  and  mine  was  the 
only  temperance  tavern  that  I  ever  heard  of 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  37 

on  the  route  across  the  plains.  I  returned 
in  about  two  years  to  Illinois,  and  when  the 
Civil  War  broke  out  enlisted  in  Company 
D  of  the  33d  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  one  other  man  in  the  company,  William 
George,  and  I,  were  the  only  men  I  knew  of 
who  did  not  drink,  more  or  less.  George 
and  I  had  extra  guard  duty  and  other  ser 
vices  to  perform  because  the  other  members 
of  the  company  were  disabled  and  sick  to  a 
large  extent  as  the  result  of  their  drinking 
habits.  Several  times  when  we  were  in 
swampy  or  malarious  territory  in  the  South, 
rations  of  whisky  were  served  to  the  men, 
but  I  always  abstained  from  drinking  it.  I 
was  dangerously  wounded  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  and  while  I  was  sick,  my  cap 
tain,  thinking  to  do  me  a  service,  at  con 
siderable  trouble  and  a  good  deal  of  expense, 
procured  a  bottle  of  brandy  and  brought  it 
to  me  at  the  hospital.  I  was  sorry  to  hurt 
his  feelings,  but  was  so  determined  not  to 
touch  liquor,  that  in  as  kind  a  way  as  I 
could,  I  explained  the  matter  and  refused 


38  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  brandy.  He  said :  '  Why,  this  is  simply 
for  medicine,  this  will  not  violate  your 
pledge  ? ;  but  I  told  him  I  thought  I  would 
be  as  well  off  without  it,  and  I  would  rather 
not  drink  any  of  it.  After  nearly  four 
years'  service  I  returned  home  and  went  to 
work  on  the  farm,  paid  off  the  indebtedness 
and  added  more  land  to  the  original  farm. 
My  children  are  married  and  are  living  near 
me  and  I  am  spending  a  very  happy  life 
among  my  children  and  grandchildren.  I 
believe  the  pledge  which  I  made  when  I  was 
a  boy,  as  I  have  stated,  and  the  fact  that  I 
have  faithfully  observed  it,  has  been  one  of 
the  essential  elements  in  the  success  of  my 
life." 

Dr.  Russell  was  so  impressed  with  the  re 
markable  story  told  by  Mr.  Breckenridge 
that  in  May,  1903,  having  business  in  that 
part  of  Illinois,  he  resolved  that  while  there 
he  would  call  at  the  home  of  Breckenridge, 
and  on  May  8th  went  out  on  the  train  from 
Springfield  to  Breckenridge  Station.  Both 
the  station  and  the  post  office  in  the  com- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  39 

munity  were  named  after  Preston  Brecken 
ridge,  the  father  of  Cleopas  Breckenridge. 
From  there  he  drove  two  and  one-half  miles 
to  the  Breckenridge  farm,  and  was  hos 
pitably  received  and  entertained  over  night. 
Mr.  Breckenridge  has  a  very  thriving  farm, 
with  a  large  two-story  house  upon  it, 
with  well-equipped  barns  and  all  the  com 
forts  and  conveniences  of  a  modern  well-to- 
do  farmer.  Among  other  things  Dr.  Rus 
sell  saw,  was  the  old  log-house,  still  pre 
served,  and  used  as  a  granary,  in  which  Mr. 
Breckenridge  was  born,  and  in  which  he 
lived  at  the  time  he  signed  the  pledge.  Rus 
sell  asked  Breckenridge  during  this  visit  if 
he  could  tell  him  the  names  of  any  other  per 
sons  still  living  who  were  present  at  the 
Lincoln  temperance  meeting  at  the  South 
Fork  Schoolhouse.  He  could  not  at  first 
give  him  any  names.  He  said  all  of  the  old 
neighbors  had  either  died  or  moved  away, 
and  much  of  the  land  of  the  neighborhood 
was  now  being  rented  to  new  tenants.  The 
next  morning,  however,  before  Russell  left, 


40  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  old  farmer  recalled  two  men  living  at 
Edinburg,  twelve  miles  away,  in  the  next 
county,  named  Moses  Martin  and  R.  E. 
Berry.  He  said  these  men  lived  in  the 
neighborhood  at  that  time,  and  it  was  possi 
ble,  and  even  probable,  that  they  were  pres 
ent  at  the  meeting. 

Russell  was  now  hot  on  the  scent,  and  did 
not  let  the  trail  grow  cold.  Saturday,  May 
9,  1903,  he  went  to  Edinburg.  He  had  the 
good  fortune  to  find  both  the  men  that  day, 
and  when  he  told  them  his  errand,  each 
stated  at  once  that  he  remembered  the  meet 
ing,  that  he  was  present,  and  signed  the 
pledge  at  that  meeting,  and  each  has  kept  it 
ever  since.  Russell  asked  if  they  were  will 
ing  to  make  affidavit  to  the  fact,  and  they 
cheerfully  assented.  Mr.  Cleopas  Brecken- 
ridge  also  made  affidavit  to  the  story  herein 
related,  but  as  the  substance  of  it  is  already 
told,  it  is  omitted.  But  I  am  sure  that 
every  reader  will  be  interested  in  the  affi 
davits  of  R,  E.  Berry  and  Moses  Martin 
which  follow: 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  41 


AFFIDAVIT   OF   R.    E.   BEREY. 

State  of  Illinois 
Christian  County 
ss: 

I,  E.  E.  Berry,  being  duly  sworn  on  oath", 
depose  and  say,  that  I  am  79  years  old  and 
a  resident  of  Edinburg,  Christian  County, 
Illinois. 

That  in  1841,  at  the  age  of  18,  I  worked 
for  a  time  on  the  farm  of  Timothy  Driscollin 
Cotton  Hill  Township,  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois,  which  joined  the  farm  of  Preston 
Breckenridge  on  the  east.  That  about  1851 
I  bought  the  said  Driscoll  farm  and  lived 
there  until  1857,  and  then  bought  another 
farm  upon  which  the  present  post  office  and 
railway  station  of  Berry  is  situated.  The 
post  office  was  established  while  I  owned 
the  farm  and  I  was  postmaster  until  I  left 
the  farm  in  1881. 

In  the  years  1846  and  1847  I  was  making 
my  home  one  and  one-half  miles  east  of  the 
South  Fork  log  schoolhouse.  This  school- 
house  was  located  on  the  west  side  of  the 
road,  across  from  the  South  Fork  Christian 
Church,  still  in  use  as  a  church.  I  remem- 


42  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ber  the  Washingtonian  Movement  and  the 
fact  that  pledge-signing  meetings  were  held 
in  various  localities  addressed  by  different 
speakers  from  Springfield  and  elsewhere. 
Among  others  who  took  part  as  speakers 
were  John  Webber  and  Preston  Brecken- 
ridge,  and  among  others  Abraham  Lin 
coln  spoke  at  various  places,  from  time  to 
time. 

I  well  remember  the  meeting  that  was 
held,  and  which  I  attended,  one  summer 
afternoon  at  the  South  Fork  Schoolhouse, 
It  was  soon  after  the  schoolhouse  was  built, 
and  the  tops  of  the  trees  from  which  the  logs 
for  the  house  were  cut  were  lying  about  near 
the  door  of  the  house.  The  meeting  was 
held  out  of  doors;  quite  a  congregation  of 
men,  women,  and  children  were  present,  and 
they  sat  about  on  the  limbs  of  the  trees  and 
logs  which  strewed  the  ground.  The 
speaker  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  after  a 
very  earnest  speech  in  which  he  explained 
the  Washingtonian  Movement,  and  in  which 
he  advocated  that  all  should  sign  and  keep 
the  pledge  of  total  abstinence  from  in 
toxicating  liquors,  he  presented  the  pledge 
and  asked  for  signers.  I  signed  the  pledge 
in  that  meeting  and  have  kept  the  same  to 


THE  LIXCOLST  LEGION  43 

this  day,  and  I  have  never  regretted  that  I 
did  so. 

R.  E.  BERRY. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before 
me  this  9th  day  of  May,  A.  D., 
1903,  at  Edinburg,  Christian  Co., 
Illinois. 

B.  A.  TURNER,, 
Notary  Public. 


AFFIDAVIT   OF    MOSES    MARTIN. 

State  of  Illinois 
Christian  County 

ss: 

Moses  Martin,  of  Edinburg,  Christian 
County,  Illinois,  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
deposes  and  says,  that  he  was  seventy-five 
years  old  February  28,  1903.  That  he  was 
born  in  Lawrence  County,  Indiana,  and 
came  with  his  father  to  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois,  late  in  the  year  1830,  and  settled  on 
a  farm  one  mile  south  of  what  is  now 
Breckenridge  post  office  and  station,  and 
about  three  miles  east  of  what  is  now  known 
as  the  South  Fork  Christian  Church.  The 
South  Fork  Schoolhouse  was  built  about 


44  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

1846,  across  the  road  from  the  South  Fork 
Church  aforesaid.  I  lived  on  the  above- 
mentioned  farm  from  1830  to  1867,  and  am 
familiar  with  what  transpired  in  the  neigh 
borhood  during  that  period.  In  1867  I  went 
to  near  Butler,  Missouri,  and  in  1883  to 
near  Howard,  South  Dakota,  and  in  1893  I 
returned  to  Sangamon  County,  Illinois,  and 
settled  on  the  same  farm  formerly  owned  by 
my  father  south  of  Breckenridge,  as  above 
stated,  which  farm  I  still  own,  and  I  have 
lived  there  until  about  one  year  ago,  when 
I  removed  to  Edinburg. 

I  became  interested  in  the  Washingtonian 
Temperance  Movement  in  1846.  The  first 
meeting  of  the  kind  I  ever  heard  of  was 
announced  to  be  held  at  the  new  school- 
house — the  South  Fork  Schoolhouse — in  the 
summer  or  fall  of  that  year.  The  meeting 
was  held  in  the  open  air  near  the  school- 
house,  the  people  sitting  upon  the  boughs  of 
trees  and  logs  which  had  been  cut  when  the 
house  was  built  It  had  been  announced 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  would  speak  and  a 
large  crowd  attended  the  meeting.  Mr. 
Lincoln  made  a  very  plain,  earnest  speech  in 
favor  of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicat 
ing  liquors  as  beverages,  and  after  his 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  45 

speech  he  took  a  paper  from  his  pocket  and 
read  a  pledge  which  I  afterward  committed 
to  memory  from  a  copy  made  from  the 
pledge  read  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  was  as 
follows : 

"  THE    WASHINGTONIAN    PLEDGE. 

"  Whereas,  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  as 
a  beverage  is  productive  of  pauperism,  de 
gradation,  and  crime  and  believing  it  is  our 
duty  to  discourage  that  which  produces 
more  evil  than  good,  we  therefore  pledge 
ourselves  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  in 
toxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage." 

Among  those  who  signed  the  pledge  in 
that  meeting  were  George,  William,  and 
Uriah  Hughes  and  their  mother;  Preston 
Breckenridge  and  his  children,  and  R.  E. 
Berry,  now  of  Edinburg,  Ills.  I  myself 
signed  then  and  there — my  first  pledge — 
and  I  have  kept  it  until  now. 

I  further  remember  and  state  that  after 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  spoken  and  the  pledge  had 
been  signed,  Mr.  Lincoln  asked  if  anyone 
had  anything  to  say  for  or  against  the  move 
ment,  and  Mr.  Preston  Breckenridge  rose 
up  and  spoke  of  the  importance  of  parents 


46  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

taking  an  interest  in  the  matter.  The  wife 
of  the  said  Breekenridge  had  recently  died, 
and  he  pointed  to  his  motherless  children 
and  spoke  of  his  anxiety  for  them,  and  as  he 
spoke  the  tears  ran  down  his  face. 

Afterward  at  various  times  and  places  the 
said  Preston  Breekenridge  held  Washing- 
tonian  meetings  and  I  went  with  him  and 
acted  as  secretary  and  helped  enroll  the 
signers  to  the  pledge. 

The  meeting  above  referred  to  conducted 
and  addressed  by  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the 
beginning  of  a  series  of  Washingtonian 
meetings  which  did  great  and  lasting  good 
in  this  section  of  the  country. 

MOSES  MARTIN. 

Subscribed  in  my  presence  and 
sworn  to  before  me  by  Moses  Mar 
tin  of  this  village  of  Edinburg,  this 
llth  day  of  May,  A.  D.,  1903. 

B.  A.  TURNER, 
Notary  Public. 

Since  these  interesting  testimonies  were 
given,  and  since  Superintendent  Russell's 
return  to  New  York,  a  letter  has  come  from 
Mr.  Cleopas  Breekenridge  stating  that  he 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  47 

has  seen  Mrs.  Almarinda  Bell  Galloway,  an 
old  lady  who  lived  in  that  neighborhood  in 
her  childhood,  and  she,  too,  states  that  she 
was  present  at  the  Lincoln  meeting,  and 
remembers  it  well. 

Mr.  Breckenridge  also  promised  to  invite 
the  others  to  meet  him  at  Springfield  for  a 
"  reunion  "  of  the  survivors  of  the  South 
Fork  Lincoln  meeting,  and  to  have  a  photo 
graph  taken  for  this  volume,  and  the  picture 
has  been  received  just  in  time  for  insertion 
opposite  page  21. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AS  A  TEMPER 
ANCE   ORATOR 


In  relation  to  the  principle  that  all  men 
are  created  equal  let  it  be  a$  nearly  reached 
as  we  can.  If  uye  cannot  give  freedom  to 
every  creature,  let  us  do  nothing  that  will 
impose  slavery  upon  any  other  creature. — 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  III 

ABRAHAM      LINCOLN      AS      A      TEMPERANCE 
ORATOR 

ON  Washington's  Birthday,  February 
22,  1842,  Abraham  Lincoln  delivered 
in  Springfield,  Illinois,  before  the  Washing- 
tonian  Temperance  Society  a  very  remarka 
ble  address.  This  address,  with  the  head 
ing  as  given  below,  was  printed  on  the  first 
page  of  the  Sangamon  Weekly  Journal  in 
the  issue  of  March  26,  1842.  It  is  in  the 
bound  copy  of  the  files  of  that  journal.  The 
copy  for  this  chapter  was  made  for  this 
volume  directly  from  the  Sangamon  Weekly 
Journal  files,  and  afterward  compared  with 
the  original.  The  italics  used  here  are  the 
very  words  which  were  underscored  by 
Abraham  Lincoln  himself  in  preparing  his 
manuscript  for  the  occasion.  The  address 
in  full  is  as  follows : 

51 


52  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

AN  ADDRESS, 

Delivered  before  the  Springfield  Washing- 
tonian  Temperance  Society,  on  the 

22nd  February,  1842,— 

By  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Esq., 

And  published  by  direction  of  the  Society. 

Although  the  temperance  cause  has  been 
in  progress  for  near  twenty  years,  it  is  ap 
parent  to  all,  that  it  is,  just  now,  being 
crowned  with  a  degree  of  success  hitherto 
unparalleled. 

The  list  of  its  friends  is  daily  swelled  by 
the  additions  of  fifties,  of  hundreds,  and  of 
thousands.  The  cause  itself  seems  suddenly 
transformed  from  a  cold  abstract  theory,  to 
a  living,  breathing,  active,  and  powerful 
chieftain,  going  forth  "  conquering  and  to 
conquer."  The  citadels  of  his  great  adver 
sary  are  daily  being  stormed  and  dis 
mantled;  his  temples  and  his  altars,  where 
the  rites  of  his  idolatrous  worship  have  long 
been  performed,  and  where  human  sacrifices 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  53 

have  long  been  wont  to  be  made,  are  daily 
desecrated  and  deserted.  The  trump  of  the 
conqueror's  fame  is  sounding  from  hill  to 
hill,  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  land  to  land, 
and  calling  millions  to  his  standard  at  a 
blast. 

For  this  new  and  splendid  success,  we 
heartily  rejoice.  That  that  success  is  so 
much  greater  now  than  heretofore,  is  doubt 
less  owing  to  rational  causes;  and  if  we 
would  have  it  to  continue,  we  shall  do  well 
to  inquire  what  those  causes  are.  The  war 
fare  heretofore  waged  against  the  demon  of 
intemperance,  has,  somehow  or  other,  been 
erroneous.  Either  the  champions  engaged, 
or  the  tactics  they  adopted,  have  not  been 
the  most  proper.  These  champions  for  the 
most  part,  have  been  preachers,  lawyers, 
and  hired  agents.  Between  these  and  the 
mass  of  mankind,  there  is  a  want  of  ap- 
proachability ,  if  the  term  be  admissible, 
partially,  at  least,  fatal  to  their  success. 
They  are  supposed  to  have  no  sympathy  of 
feeling  or  interest,  with  those  very  persons 


64  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

whom  it  is  their  object  to  convince  and 
persuade. 

And  again,  it  is  so  easy  and  so  common  to 
ascribe  motives  to  men  of  these  classes, 
other  than  those  they  profess  to  act  upon. 
The  preacher,  it  is  said,  advocates  temper 
ance  because  he  is  a  fanatic,  and  desires  a 
union  of  Church  and  State;  the  lawyer, 
from  his  pride  and  vanity  of  hearing  him 
self  speak;  and  the  hired  agent,  for  his 
salary.  But  when  one,  who  has  long  been 
known  as  a  victim  of  intemperance,  bursts 
the  fetters  that  have  bound  him,  and  appears 
before  his  neighbors  "  clothed,  and  in  his 
right  mind,"  a  redeemed  specimen  of  long 
lost  humanity,  and  stands  up  with  tears  of 
joy  trembling  in  his  eyes,  to  tell  of  themiser- 
ies  once  endured,nottf  to  be  endured  no  more 
forever;  of  his  once  naked  and  starving 
children,  now  clad  and  fed  comfortably ;  of  a 
wife,  long  weighed  down  with  woe,  weeping, 
and  a  broken  heart,  now  restored  to  health, 
happiness,  and  renewed  affection;  and  how 
easily  it  all  is  done,  once  it  is  resolved  to  be 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  55 

done;  however  simple  his  language,  there  is 
a  logic,  and  an  eloquence  in  it,  that  few, 
with  human  feelings,  can  resist.  They  can 
not  say  that  he  desires  a  union  of  Church 
and  State,  for  he  is  not  a  church  member; 
they  cannot  say  that  he  is  vain  of  hearing 
himself  speak,  for  his  whole  demeanor 
shows,  he  would  gladly  avoid  speaking  at 
all;  they  cannot  say  he  speaks  for  pay,  for 
he  receives  none,  and  asks  for  none.  Nor 
can  his  sincerity  in  any  way  be  doubted ;  or 
his  sympathy  for  those  he  would  persuade 
to  imitate  his  example,  be  denied. 

In  my  judgment,  it  is  to  the  battles  of  this 
new  class  of  champions  that  our  late  suc 
cess  is  greatly,  perhaps  chiefly,  owing. — 
But,  had  the  old  school  champions  them 
selves  been  of  the  most  wise  selecting,  was 
their  system  of  tactics,  the  most  judicious? 
It  seems  to  me,  it  was  not.  Too  much 
denunciation  against  dram  sellers  and  dram 
drinkers  was  indulged  in.  This,  I  think, 
was  both  impolitic  and  unjust.  It  was 
impolitic,  because,  it  is  not  much  in  the 


56  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

nature  of  man  to  be  driven  to  anything; 
still  less  to  be  driven  about  that  which  is 
exclusively  his  own  business;  and  least  of 
all,  where  such  driving  is  to  be  submitted  to, 
at  the  expense  of  pecuniary  interest,  or 
burning  appetite.  When  the  dram  seller 
and  the  drinker,  were  incessantly  told,  not 
in  the  accents  of  entreaty  and  persuasion, 
diffidently  addressed  by  erring  men  to  an 
erring  brother ;  but  in  the  thundering  tones 
of  anathema  and  denunciation,  with  which 
the  lordly  judge  often  groups  together  all 
the  crimes  of  the  felon's  life  and  thrusts 
them  in  his  face  just  ere  he  passes  sentence 
of  death  upon  him,  that  they  were  the 
authors  of  all  the  vice,  and  misery  and 
crime  in  the  land ;  that  they  were  the  manu 
facturers  and  material  of  all  the  thieves  and 
robbers  and  murderers  that  infested  the 
earth ;  that  their  houses  were  the  workshops 
of  the  devil ;  and  that  their  persons  should 
be  shunned  by  all  the  good  and  virtuous,  as 
moral  pestilences, — I  say,  when  they  were 
told  all  this,  and  in  this  way,  it  is  not  won- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  57 

derful  that  they  were  slow,  very  slow,  to 
acknowledge  the  truth  of  such  denuncia 
tions,  and  to  join  the  ranks  of  their  de 
nouncers,  in  a  hue  and  cry  against  them 
selves. 

To  have  expected  them  to  do  otherwise 
than  as  they  did — to  have  expected  them  not 
to  meet  denunciation  with  denunciation, 
crimination  with  crimination,  anathema 
with  anathema,  was  to  expect  a  reversal  of 
human  nature,  which  is  God's  decree,  and 
never  can  be  reversed.  When  the  conduct 
of  men  is  designed  to  be  influenced,  per- 
suasion,  kind,  unassuming  persuasion, 
should  ever  be  adopted.  It  is  an  old  and  a 
true  maxim,  that  a  "  drop  of  honey  catches 
more  flies  than  a  gallon  of  gall." — So  with 
men.  If  you  would  win  a  man  to  your 
cause,  first  convince  him  that  you  are  his 
sincere  friend.  Therein  is  a  drop  of  honey 
that  catches  his  heart,  which,  say  what  he 
will,  is  the  great  high  road  to  his  reason, 
and  which,  when  once  gained,  you  will  find 
but  little  trouble  in  convincing  his  judg- 


58  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ment  of  the  justice  of  your  cause,  if  indeed 
that  cause  really  be  a  just  one.  On  the 
contrary,  assume  to  dictate  to  his  judgment, 
or  to  command  his  action,  or  to  mark  him 
as  one  to  be  shunned  and  despised,  and  he 
will  retreat  within  himself,  close  all  the 
avenues  to  his  head  and  heart;  and  though 
your  cause  be  naked  truth  itself,  trans 
formed  to  the  heaviest  lance,  harder  than 
steel,  and  sharper  than  steel  can  be  made, 
and  though  you  throw  it  with  more  than 
Herculean  force  and  precision,  you  shall  no 
more  be  able  to  pierce  him,  than  to  pene 
trate  the  hard  shell  of  a  tortoise  with  a  rye 
straw. 

Such  is  man,  and  so  must  he  be  under 
stood  by  those  who  would  lead  him,  even  to 
his  own  best  interest. 

On  this  point,  the  Washingtouians 
greatly  excel  the  temperance  advocates  of 
former  times.  Those  whom  they  desire  to 
convince  and  persuade,  are  their  old  friends 
and  companions.  They  know  they  are  not 
demons,  nor  even  the  worst  of  men.  They 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  69 

know  that  generally,  they  are  kind,  generous 
and  charitable,  even  beyond  the  example  of 
their  more  staid  and  sober  neighbors. 
They  are  practical  philanthropists;  and 
they  glow  with  a  generous  and  brotherly 
zeal,  that  mere  theorizers  are  incapable  of 
feeling. — Benevolence  and  charity  possess 
their  hearts  entirely ;  and  out  of  the  abund 
ance  of  their  hearts,  their  tongues  give  utter 
ance.  "  Love  through  all  their  actions  runs, 
and  all  their  words  are  mild."  In  this 
spirit  they  speak  and  act,  and  in  the  same, 
they  are  heard  and  regarded.  And  when 
such  is  the  temper  of  the  advocate,  and  such 
of  the  audience,  no  good  cause  can  be  un 
successful. 

But  I  have  said  that  denunciations 
against  dram  sellers  and  dram  drinkers,  are 
unjust  as  well  as  impolitic.  Let  us  see. 

I  have  not  inquired  at  what  period  of 
time  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  com 
menced  ;  nor  is  it  important  to  know.  It  is 
sufficient  that  to  all  of  us  who  now  inhabit 
the  world,  the  practice  of  drinking  them,  is 


60  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

just  as  old  as  the  world  itself, — that  is,  we 
have  seen  the  one,  just  as  long  as  we  have 
seen  the  other.  When  all  such  of  us,  as 
have  now  reached  the  years  of  maturity, 
first  opened  our  eyes  upon  the  stage  of 
existence,  we  found  intoxicating  liquor, 
recognized  by  everybody,  used  by  everybody, 
and  repudiated  by  nobody.  It  commonly 
entered  into  the  first  draught  of  the  infant, 
and  the  last  draught  of  the  dying  man. 
From  the  sideboard  of  the  parson,  down  to 
the  ragged  pocket  of  the  houseless  loafer,  it 
was  constantly  found.  Physicians  pre 
scribed  it  in  this,  that,  and  the  other  disease. 
Government  provided  it  for  its  soldiers  and 
sailors;  and  to  have  a  rolling  or  raising,  a 
husking  or  hoe-down,  anywhere  without  it, 
was  positively  insufferable. 

So  too,  it  was  everywhere  a  respectable 
article  of  manufacture  and  of  merchandise. 
The  making  of  it  was  regarded  as  an  honor 
able  livelihood;  and  he  who  could  make 
most,  was  the  most  enterprising  and  respect 
able.  Large  and  small  manufactories  of  it 


AN     AMBROTYPE    TAKEN     ABOUT    1852. 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 
As  he  appeared  at  the  time  of  the  Washingtonian  Movement. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  61 

were  everywhere  erected,  in  which  all  the 
earthly  goods  of  their  owners  were  invested. 
Wagons  drew  it  from  town  to  town — boats 
bore  it  from  clime  to  clime,  and  the  winds 
wafted  it  from  nation  to  nation;  and  mer 
chants  bought  and  sold  it,  by  wholesale  and 
by  retail,  with  precisely  the  same  feelings, 
on  the  part  of  seller,  buyer,  and  bystander, 
as  are  felt  at  the  selling  and  buying  of  flour, 
beef,  bacon,  or  any  other  of  the  real  neces 
saries  of  life.  Universal  public  opinion  not 
only  tolerated,  but  recognized  and  adopted 
its  use. 

It  is  true,  that  even  then,  it  was  known 
and  acknowledged  that  many  were  greatly 
injured  by  it;  but  none  seemed  to  think  that 
the  injury  arose  from  the  use  of  a  bad  thing, 
but  from  the  abuse  of  a  very  good  thing. — 
The  victims  to  it  were  pitied,  and  compas 
sionated,  just  as  now  are,  heirs  of  consump 
tions,  and  other  hereditary  diseases.  Their 
failing  was  treated  as  a  misfortune,  and  not 
as  a  crime,  or  even  as  a  disgrace. 

If,  then,  what  I  have  been  saying  be  true, 


62  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

is  it  wonderful  that  some  should  think  and 
act  noiv,  as  all  thought  and  acted-  twenty 
years  ago?  And  is  it  jmt  to  assail,  con 
demn,  or  despise  them,  for  doing  so?  The 
universal  sense  of  mankind  on  any  subject, 
is  an  argument,  or  at  least  an  influence,  not 
easily  overcome.  The  success  of  the  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  the  existence  of  an  overrul 
ing  Providence,  mainly  depends  upon  that 
sense;  and  men  ought  not,  in  justice,  to  be 
denounced  for  yielding  to  it,  in  any  case,  or 
for  giving  it  up  slowly,  especially,  where 
they  are  backed  by  interest,  fixed  habits,  or 
burning  appetites. 

Another  error,  it  seems  to  me,  into  which 
the  old  reformers  fell,  was,  the  position  that 
all  habitual  drunkards  were  utterly  incor 
rigible,  and  therefore,  must  be  turned  adrift, 
and  damned  without  remedy,  in  order  that 
the  grace  of  temperance  might  abound  to 
the  temperate  then,  and  to  all  mankind 
some  hundred  years  thereafter. — There  is  in 
this  something  so  repugnant  to  humanity, 
so  uncharitable^  so  cold-blooded  and  feel- 


THE  HNOOLff  LEGION  63 

ingless,  that  it  never  did,  nor  ever  can  enlist 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  popular  canse.  We 
could  not  love  the  man  who  taught  it — we 
could  not  hear  him  with  patience.  The 
heart  could  not  throw  open  its  portals  to  it. 
The  generous  man  could  not  adopt  it.  It 
could  not  mix  with  his  blood.  It  looked  so 
fiendly  selfish,  so  like  throwing  fathers  and 
brothers  overboard,  to  lighten  the  bo«at  for 
our  security — that  the  noble-minded  shrank 
from  the  manifest  meanness  of  the  thing. 

And  besides  this,  the  benefits  of  a  ref 
ormation  to  be  affected  by  such  a  system, 
were  too  remote  in  point  of  time,  to  warmly 
engage  many  in  its  behalf.  Few  can  be 
induced  to  labor  exclusively  for  posterity; 
and  none  will  do  it  enthusiastically.  Pos 
terity  has  done  nothing  for  us ;  and  theorize 
on  it  as  we  may,  practically  we  shall  do 
very  little  for  it,  unless  we  are  made  to 
think,  we  are,  at  the  same  time,  doing  some 
thing  for  ourselves.  What  an  ignorance  of 
human  nature  does  it  exhibit,  to  ask  or 
expect  a  whole  community  to  rise  up  and 


64  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

labor  for  the  temporal  happiness  of  others 
after  themselves  shall  be  consigned  to  the 
dust,  a  majority  of  which  community  take 
no  pains  whatever  to  secure  their  own 
eternal  welfare,  at  a  no  greater  distant  day? 
Great  distance,  in  either  time  or  space,  has 
wonderful  power  to  lull  and  render  quies 
cent  the  human  mind.  Pleasures  to  be  en 
joyed,  or  pains  to  be  endured,  after  we  shall 
be  dead  and  gone,  are  but  little  regarded, 
even  in  our  own  cases,  and  much  less  in  the 
case  of  others. 

Still,  in  addition  to  this  there  is  some 
thing  so  ludicrous  in  promises  of  good,  or 
threats  of  evil,  a  great  way  off,  as  to  render 
the  whole  subject  with  which  they  are  con 
nected,  easily  turned  into  ridicule.  "  Better 
lay  down  that  spade  you're  stealing,  Paddy, 
—if  you  don't  you  will  pay  for  it  at  the  day 
of  judgment."  "  By  the  powers,  if  you'll 
credit  me  so  long,  I'll  take  another,  jist." 

By  the  Washingtonians,  this  system  of 
consigning  the  habitual  drunkard  to  hope 
less  ruin,  is  repudiated.  They  adopt  a  more 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  65 

enlarged  philanthropy.  They  go  for  present 
as  well  as  future  good.  They  labor  for  all 
now  living,  as  well  as  all  hereafter  to  live. — 
They  teach  hope  to  all — despair  to  none. 
As  applied  to  their  cause,  they  deny  the  doc 
trine  of  unpardonable  sin.  As  in  Chris 
tianity  it  is  taught,  so  in  this  they  teach, 
that 

"  While  the  lamp  holds  out  to  burn, 
The  vilest  sinner  may  return." 

And,  what  is  a  matter  of  the  most  pro 
found  gratulation,  they,  by  experiment  upon 
experiment,  and  example  upon  example, 
prove  the  maxim  to  be  no  less  true  in  the 
one  case  than  in  the  other.  On  every  hand 
we  behold  those,  who  but  yesterday,  were 
the  chief  of  sinners,  now  the  chief  apostles 
of  the  cause.  Drunken  devils  are  cast  out 
by  ones,  by  sevens,  and  by  legions.  And 
their  unfortunate  victims,  like  the  poor 
possessed,  who  was  redeemed  from  his  long 
and  lonely  wanderings  in  the  tombs,  are 
publishing  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  how 
great  things  have  been  done  for  them. 


66  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

To  those  new  champions  and  this  new 
system  of  tactics,  our  late  success  is  mainly 
owing ;  and  to  them  we  must  chiefly  look  for 
the  final  consummation.  The  ball  is  now 
rolling  gloriously  on,  and  none  are  so  able 
as  they  to  increase  its  speed  and  its  bulk — 
to  add  to  its  momentum,  and  its  magnitude. 
— Even  though  unlearned  in  letters,  for 
this  task,  none  others  are  so  well  educated. 
To  fit  them  for  this  work,  they  have  been 
taught  in  the  true  school.  They  have  been 
in  that  gulf,  from  which  they  would  teach 
others  the  means  of  escape.  They  have 
passed  that  prison  wall,  which  others  have 
long  declared  impassable;  and  who  that  has 
not,  shall  dare  to  weigh  opinions  with  them, 
as  to  the  mode  of  passing. 

But  if  it  be  true,  as  I  have  insisted,  that 
those  who  have  suffered  by  intemperance, 
personally,  and  have  reformed,  are  the  most 
powerful  and  efficient  instruments  to  push 
the  reformation  to  ultimate  success,  it  does 
not  follow,  that  those  who  have  not  suffered, 
have  no  part  left  them  to  perform.  Whether 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  67 

or  not  the  world  would  be  vastly  benefited 
by  a  total  and  final  banishment  from  it  of 
all  intoxicating  drinks,  seems  to  me  not  now 
to  be  an  open  question.  Three-fourths  of 
mankind  confess  the  affirmative  with  their 
tongues,  and,  I  believe,  all  the  rest  acknowl 
edge  it  in  their  hearts. 

Ought  any,  then,  to  refuse  their  aid  in 
doing  what  the  good  of  the  ickole  demands? 
— Shall  he,  who  cannot  do  much,  be,  for  that 
reason,  excused  if  he  do  nothing?  "  But," 
says  one,  "  what  good  can  I  do  by  signing 
the  pledge?  I  never  drink  even  without 
signing."  This  question  has  already  been 
asked  and  answered  more  than  a  million 
times.  Let  it  be  answered  once  more.  For 
the  man  to  suddenly,  or  in  any  other  way, 
to  break  off  from  the  use  of  drams,  who  has 
indulged  in  them  for  a  long  course  of  years, 
and  until  his  appetite  for  them  has  become 
ten  or  a  hundred-fold  stronger,  and  more 
craving,  than  any  natural  appetite  can  be, 
requires  a  most  powerful  moral  effort.  In 
such  an  undertaking,  he  needs  every  moral 


68  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

support  and  influence,  that  can  possibly  be 
brought  to  his  aid,  and  thrown  around  him. 
And  not  only  so;  but  every  moral  prop 
should  be  taken  from  whatever  argument 
might  rise  in  his  mind  to  lure  him  to  his 
back-sliding.  When  he  casts  his  eyes 
around  him,  he  should  be  able  to  see  all  that 
he  respects,  all  that  he  admires,  and  all  that 
he  loves,  kindly  and  anxiously  pointing  him 
onward;  and  none  beckoning  him  back,  to 
his  former  miserable  "  wallowing  in  the 
mire." 

But  it  is  said  by  some,  that  men  will 
think  and  act  for  themselves ;  that  none  will 
disuse  spirits  or  anything  else,  merely 
because  his  neighbors  do;  and  that  moral 
influence  is  not  that  powerful  engine  con 
tended  for.  Let  us  examine  this.  Let  me 
ask  the  man  who  would  maintain  this  posi 
tion  most  stiffly,  what  compensation  he  will 
accept  to  go  to  church  some  Sunday  and  sit 
during  the  sermon  with  his  wife's  bonnet 
on  his  head?  Not  a  trifle,  I'll  venture. 
And  why  not?  There  would  be  nothing 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


irreligious  in  it;  nothing  immoral,  nothing 
uncomfortable. — Then  why  not?  Is  it  net 
because  there  would  be  something  egre- 
giously  unfashionable  in  it?  Then  it  is  the 
influence  of  fashion;  and  what  is  the  influ 
ence  of  fashion,  but  the  influence  that  other 
people's  actions  have  upon  our  own  actions; 
the  strong  inclination  each  of  us  feels  to  do 
as  we  see  all  our  neghbors  do?  Nor  is  the 
influence  of  fashion  confined  to  any  partic 
ular  thing  or  class  of  things.  It  is  just  as 
strong  on  one  subject  as  another.  Let  us 
make  it  as  unfashionable  to  withhold  our 
names  from  the  temperance  pledge  as  for 
husbands  to  wear  their  wives'  bonnets  to 
church,  and  instances  will  be  just  as  rare  in 
the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

"  But,"  say  some,  "  we  are  no  drunkards ; 
and  we  shall  not  acknowledge  ourselves 
such  by  Joining  a  reformed  drunkards' 
society,  whatever  our  influence  might  be." 
Surely  no  Christian  will  adhere  to  this  ob 
jection. — If  they  believe,  as  they  profess, 
that  Omnipotence  condescended  to  take  on 


70  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

himself  the  form  of  sinful  man,  as  such,  to 
die  an  ignominous  death  for  their  sakes, 
surely  they  will  not  refuse  submission  to  the 
infinitely  lesser  condescension,  for  the  tem 
poral,  and  perhaps  eternal  salvation,  of  a 
large,  erring,  and  unfortunate  class  of  their 
own  fellow  creatures.  Nor  is  the  conde 
scension  very  great. 

In  my  judgment,  such  of  us  as  have  never 
fallen  victims,  have  been  spared  more  from 
the  absence  of  appetite,  than  fror  any  men 
tal  or  moral  superiority  over  those  who 
have.  Indeed,  I  believe,  if  we  take  habitual 
drunkards  as  a  class,  their  heads  and  hearts 
will  bear  an  advantageous  comparison  with 
those  of  any  other  class.  There  seems  ever 
to  have  been  a  pronene&s  in  the  brilliant, 
and  the  warm-blooded,  to  fall  into  this  vice. 
— The  demon  of  intemperance  ever  seems  to 
have  delighted  in  sucking  the  blood  of 
genius  and  of  generosity.  What  one  of  us 
but  can  call  to  mind  some  dear  relative, 
more  promising  in  youth  than  all  of  his 
fellows,  who  has  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his 


THE  LIXCOLX  LEGION  71 

rapacity?  He  ever  seems  to  have  gone 
forth,  like  the  Egyptian  angel  of  death,  com 
missioned  to  slay  if  not  the  first,  the  fairest 
born  of  every  family.  Shall  he  now  be 
arrested  in  his  desolating  career?  In  that 
arrest,  all  can  give  aid  that  will;  and  who 
shall  be  excused  that  can  and  will  not? 
Far  around  as  human  breath  has  ever 
blown,  he  keeps  our  fathers,  our  brothers, 
our  sons,  and  our  friends,  prostrate  in  the 
chains  of  moral  death.  To  all  the  living 
everywhere,  we  cry,  "Come,  sound  the  moral 
resurrection  trump,  that  these  may  rise 
and  stand  up,  an  exceeding  great  army  " — 
"  Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  breath !  and 
breathe  upon  these  slain,  that  they  may 
live." 

If  the  relative  grandeur  of  revolutions 
shall  be  estimated  by  the  great  amount  of 
human  misery  they  alleviate,  and  the  small 
amount  they  inflict,  then,  indeed,  will  this 
be  the  grandest  the  world  shall  ever  have 
seen. — Of  our  political  revolution  of  '76,  we 
all  are  justly  proud.  It  has  given  us  a  de- 


72  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

gree  of  political  freedom,  far  exceeding  that 
of  any  other  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  In 
it  the  world  has  found  a  solution  of  that 
long-mooted  problem,  as  to  the  capability  of 
man  to  govern  himself.  In  it  was  the  germ 
which  has  vegetated,  and  still  is  to  grow 
and  expand,  into  the  universal  liberty  of 
mankind. 

But  with  all  these  glorious  results,  past, 
present,  and  to  come,  it  had  its  evils  too. — It 
breathed  forth  famine,  swam  in  blood  and 
rode  on  fire;  and  long,  long  after,  the 
orphan's  cry,  and  widow's  Avail,  continue  to 
break  the  sad  silence  that  ensued.  These 
were  the  price,  the  inevitable  price,  paid  for 
the  blessings  it  bought. 

Turn  now,  to  the  temperance  revolution. 
In  it,  we  shall  find  a  stronger  bondage 
broken;  a  viler  slavery  manumitted;  a 
greater  tyrant  deposed.  In  it,  more  of 
want  supplied,  more  disease  healed,  more 
sorrow  assuaged.  By  it,  no  orphans  starv 
ing,  no  widows  weeping.  By  it,  none 
wounded  in  feeling,  none  injured  in  in- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  73 

terest.  Even  the  dram  maker,  and  the 
dram  seller,  will  have  glided  into  other  oc 
cupations  so  gradually,  as  never  to  have  felt 
the  shock  of  change;  and  will  stand  ready  to 
join  all  others  in  the  universal  song  of  glad 
ness. 

And  what  a  noble  ally  this,  to  the  cause  of 
political  freedom.  With  such  an  aid,  its 
march  cannot  fail  to  be  on  and  on,  until 
every  son  on  earth  shall  drink  in  rich 
fruition  the  sorrow-quenching  draughts  of 
perfect  liberty.  Happy  day,  when  all  appe 
tites  controlled,  all  passions  subdued,  all 
manners  subjected,  mind,  all-conquering 
mind,  shall  live  and  move  the  monarch  of 
the  world.  Glorious  consummation !  Hail, 
fall  of  Fury !  Reign  of  Reason,  all  hail ! 

And  when  the  victory  shall  be  complete — 
when  there  shall  be  neither  a  slave  nor  a 
drunkard  on  earth — how  proud  the  title  of 
that  Land,  which  may  truly  claim  to  be  the 
birthplace  and  the  cradle  of  both  those 
revolutions,  that  shall  have  ended  in  that 
victory.  How  nobly  distinguished  that 


74  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

people,  who  shall  have  planted,  and  nur 
tured  to  maturity,  both  the  political  and 
moral  freedom  of  their  species. 

This  is  the  one  hundred  and  tenth  anni 
versary  of  the  birthday  of  Washington. — 
We  are  met  to  celebrate  this  day.  Wash 
ington  is  the  mightiest  name  of  earth — long 
since  mightiest  in  the  cause  of  civil  liberty; 
still  mightiest  in  moral  reformation.  On 
that  name,  a  eulogy  is  expected.  It  cannot 
be.  To  add  brightness  to  the  sun,  or  glory 
to  the  name  of  Washington,  is  alike  impossi 
ble.  Let  none  attempt  it.  In  solemn  awe 
pronounce  the  name,  and  in  its  naked  death 
less  splendor,  leave  it  shining  on. 

If  we  take  into  consideration  the  day  in 
which  it  was  spoken,  this  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  addresses  ever  delivered.  It 
may  be  doubted  if  there  was  ever  a  grander 
temperance  address  delivered  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  It  is  remarkable  for  its 
breadth  of  vision  and  its  sanity. 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  the  remark  that 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  75 

the  cause  in  Lincoln's  day  had  been  harmed 
by  the  harsh  methods  and  overbearing  and 
unkind  words  of  some  speakers.  The  same 
is  true  to-day.  It  is  as  true  now  as  in 
Lincoln's  time  that  not  abuse  and  hard 
names,  but  kindness  and  sympathy  are 
essential  if  we  would  win  men  and  women  to 
our  standard.  The  new  movement — the 
Lincoln  Legion — is  pledged  to  the  Lincoln 
spirit.  Its  work  will  be  begun  and  fostered 
in  harmony  with  the  sentiment  of  him  whose 
immortal  name  it  bears  upon  its  banner, 
"  with  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
for  all."  Its  motto  enjoins  three  of  the 
Great  Master's  qualities,  which  were  found 
in  a  marked  degree  in  Abraham  Lincoln, 
"  Love,  Sacrifice,  Service!" 


FATHER  MATTHEW  AND  HIS 
CAREER 


There  is  no  gratification  worthy  of  a 
Christian  that  cannot  be  enjoyed  without 
tasting  intoxicating  liquors. 

The  pledge  which  I  a$k  you  and  others  to 
take  does  not  enslave,  it  makes  free — free 
from  vice,  free  from  passion,  free  from  an 
enslaving  habit.— FATHER  MATTHEW. 


CHAPTER  IV 

FATHER    MATTHEW    AND    HIS    CAREER 

TMTHER  MATTHEW  had  been  for 
J-  some  years  one  of  the  Governors  of  the 
House  of  Industry,  the  Cork  Workhouse  of 
those  days — in  which  the  poor  waifs  and 
strays  of  society,  the  wretched  and  the 
broken-down,  the  victims  of  their  own  folly, 
or  of  the  calamities,  accidents,  and  vicissi 
tudes  of  life,  found  a  miserable  home. 
Father  Matthew  was  a  big-hearted,  sincerely 
Christian  man,  and  he  saw  so  much  of  the 
ruin  wrought  by  strong  drink  that  it  made 
of  him  a  total  abstainer. 

On  the  Board  of  Governors,  with  Father 
Matthew,  was  one  who,  himself  a  convert  to 
the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence,  never  failed 
to  direct  his  attention  to  any  case  more 
remarkable  in  its  distressing  features  than 
another,  with  the  observation — "  Strong 
79 


80  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

drink  is  the  cause  of  this."  And  having 
excited  the  compassionate  sympathy  of  his 
associate,  he  would  add,  "Oh,  Theobald 
Matthew !  If  thou  would  only  give  thy  aid, 
much  good  could  be  done  in  this  city." 

This  friend,  William  Martin,  by  name, 
was  a  persistent  soul,  and  did  not  easily  give 
up  when  once  he  had  put  his  hand  to  the 
plow.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  that 
Father  Matthew,  who  was  the  most  popular 
and  influential  priest  in  that  portion  of 
Ireland,  was  the  man  above  all  others  to 
lead  in  a  great  movement  against  the  habit 
of  strong  drink,  and  so,  again  and  again,  he 
rang  the  words  in  his  friend's  ears,  "  Oh, 
Theobald  Matthew,  if  thou  would  but  take 
the  cause  in  hand."  Father  Matthew  was 
now  in  his  forty-seventh  year,  and  had  had 
large  experience  both  among  the  rich  and 
among  the  pool?.  In  every  class  of  society 
he  had  witnessed  the  devastation  wrought 
by  this  monster  iniquity.  Although  for  a 
long  time  he  gave  no  sign,  Martin's  cease 
less  reiteration  at  last  made  itself  felt,  and 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  81 

seemed  to  be  to  him  the  call  of  God.  On  a 
day  early  in  April,  1838,  William  Martin 
received  a  message  from  Father  Matthew 
asking  him  to  call  on  him  that  evening. 
Father  Matthew  met  him  at  the  door,  say 
ing,  "  Welcome,  Mr.  Martin,  welcome,  my 
dear  friend.  It  is  very  kind  of  you  to  come 
to  me  at  so  short  a  notice,  and  so  punctually, 
too." 

"  I  was  right  glad  to  come  to  thee,  Theo 
bald  Matthew,  for  I  expected  that  thou  had 
good  news  for  me." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Martin,  I  have  sent  for  you 
to  assist  me  in  forming  a  temperance  society 
in  this  neighborhood." 

"  I  knew  it!  "  exclaimed  Martin;  "some 
thing  seemed  to  tell  me  that  thou  would'st 
do  it  at  last." 

The  meeting  was  called,  and  not  a  very 
large  crowd  came  together.  Father  Mat 
thew  took  the  chair,  and  made  an  address, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said : 

"  These  gentlemen  are  good  enough  to  say 
that  I  could  be  useful  in  promoting  the  great 


82  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

virtue  of  temperance,  and  arresting  the 
spread  of  drunkenness.  I  am  quite  alive  to 
the  evils  which  this  vice  brings  with  it, 
especially  to  the  humbler  classes,  who  are 
naturally  most  exposed  to  its  temptation, 
and  liable  to  yield  to  its  seductive  influences. 
I  have  always  endeavored,  as  a  minister  of 
religion,  to  discourage  drunkenness,  not 
with  the  success  I  desired,  it  is  true;  but  I 
yielded  to  no  one  in  my  wish  to  see  our  work 
ing  classes  sober  and  self-respecting.  I 
could  not  refuse  to  listen  to  the  many  appeals 
made  to  me.  Your  respected  friend,  Mr. 
Martin,  has  often  asked  me  to  do  what  I  am 
about  to  do  this  night.  .  .  My  dear  friends, 
I  much  fear  that  your  kind  partiality  has 
made  you  overlook  my  many  defects,  and 
attribute  to  me  merits  which  I  am  very  far 
from  possessing;  but  if,  through  any  humble 
instrumentality  of  mine,  I  can  do  good  to 
my  fellow  creatures,  and  give  glory  to  God, 
I  feel  I  am  bound,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gos 
pel,  to  throw  all  personal  considerations 
aside,  and  try  and  give  a  helping  hand  to 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  83 

gentlemen  who  have  afforded  me  so  excellent 
an  example.  Indeed,  if  only  one  poor  soul 
could  be  rescued  from  destruction  by  what 
we  are  now  attempting,  it  would  be  giving 
glory  to  God,  and  well  worth  all  the  trouble 
we  could  take.  No  person  in  health  has 
any  need  of  intoxicating  drinks.  My  dear 
friends,  you  don't  require  them,  nor  do  I 
require  them — neither  do  I  take  them. 
Many  of  you  here  have  proved  that  they  can 
be  done  without,  for  you  are  strong  in  health 
and  in  the  possession  of  your  faculties. 
After  much  reflection  on  the  subject,  I  have 
come  to  the  conviction  that  there  is  no  neces 
sity  for  them,  for  anyone  in  good  health; 
and  I  advise  you  all  to  follow  my  example. 
I  will  be  the  first  to  sign  my  name  in  tlie 
book  which  is  on  the  table,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  soon  have  it  full." 

Father  Matthew  then  approached  the 
table,  and,  taking  tlie  pen,  said,  in  a  voice 
heard  by  all,  and  remembered  by  those  pres 
ent  for  many  years — "  Here  goes,  in  the 
name  of  God ! "  and  signed  his  name  in 


84  THE  LINCOLN"  LEGION 

full.  Some  sixty  others  followed  him  that 
evening. 

The  work  was  successful  from  the  first. 
The  Society  was  formed  in  April,  1838,  and 
by  January,  1839,  over  two  hundred  thou 
sand  members  had  signed  its  roll  in  Cork 
and  the  adjoining  counties. 

In  December,  1839,  Father  Matthew  made 
his  first  missionary  visitation  as  the  apostle 
of  total  abstinence.  This  visit  was  made  to 
the  city  of  Limerick,  and  wrought  that 
ancient  city  to  great  excitement.  The  peo 
ple  came  in  from  the  country  round  about 
and  packed  the  streets.  Father  Matthew's 
reception  was  an  ovation  such  as  few  men 
ever  received;  indeed  still  fewer  had  ever 
excited  in  the  people  the  same  blended  feel 
ings  of  love,  and  reverence,  and  enthusiasm. 
For  four  days  Father  Matthew  preached  and 
exhorted  so  long  as  the  least  remnant  of  a 
voice  was  left  him.  His  mission  was  rnar- 
velously  successful.  In  those  four  days 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  and 
women  signed  the  total  abstinence  pledge, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  85 

and    joined    the    growing    total-abstinence 
ranks. 

Many  amusing  tilings  occurred  illustrat 
ing  the  humor  and  peculiar  characteristics 
of  the  Irish  temperament.  During  his  mis 
sion  in  Waterford,  as  Father  Matthew  was 
about  to  mark  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  the 
forehead  of  a  native  who  showed  every  in 
dication  of  close  acquaintance  with  the 
drink,  the  man  clutched  Father  Matthew  by 
the  skirts  of  his  coat  with  such  a  grasp  as  a 
drunken  man  can  take,  and,  in  a  voice  much 
broken  by  hiccoughs,  cried  out, — "  Father 
Matthew,  darling  you  m-m-ust  k-k-iss 
me !  "  "  My  dear,  do  let  me  go.  God  bless 
you,  my  dear  child;  be  a  good  boy  for  the 
future.  There — do  let  me  go,"  said  Father 
Matthew.  "  No,  Father  Matthew,  darlin', 
I  won't  1-1-ave  go  my  hoult  till  I  get  wan 
k-k-iss!"  "Oh,  my  dear,  do  let  me  go!" 
"  No ;  wan  is  all  I  ax,  an'  I  m-m-ust  have  it. 
Don't  r-r-efuse  a  poor  fellow  craychure  wan 
kiss — only  wan !  "  persisted  the  tender  soul. 
A  number  of  gentlemen  and  clergymen  tried 


86  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

to  induce  the  man  to  quit  his  hold  on  Father 
Matthew's  coat;  but  all  in  vain.  Jim  was 
determined  to  have  his  "  wan  kiss."  "  Jim, 
avick,  aren't  you  ashamed  of  yourself — the 
holy  priest! — an'  in  the  chapel,  too!"  re 
monstrated  an  old  woman  near  him.  "  Jim, 
you  bosithoon,  you !  Quit  yer  hould  of  his 
reverence  this  moment ! "  insisted  a  sturdy 
friend  at  the  other  side.  "  No,  not  till  I  get 
wan  k-k-iss;  no,  af  I  died  for  it,  I  won't  lave 
go." 

Father  Matthew,  seeing  that  unpleasant 
consequences  were  likely  to  ensue  if  Jim's 
rather  inconvenient  request  wras  not  at  once 
complied  with,  resolved  to  make  him  happy, 
and  accordingly  kissed  Jim  on  both  cheeks, 
saying,  "  Now,  James,  my  dear,  go  home 
and  remain  quiet,  and  be  a  sensible  boy  for 
the  future."  The  "boy"  was  not  much 
short  of  forty  years  of  age.  Jim  re 
linquished  his  grasp  of  the  skirt  of  the  coat, 
and  retired  proud  of  his  achievement. 

The  fame  of  Father  Matthew  rapidly 
spread  abroad  throughout  the  island.  It 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  87 

may  be  doubted  if  there  has  ever  been  such 
enthusiasm  manifested  in  any  reform  move 
ment  as  was  shown  by  the  followers  of 
Father  Matthew.  Father  Matthew  was 
once  on  his  way  by  coach  from  Dublin  to 
Cork.  The  coach  stopped  at  the  town  of 
Athy,  long  enough  to  permit  the  passengers 
to  have  breakfast  at  the  hotel.  One  of  the 
group  waiting  before  the  hotel  recognized 
Father  Matthew,  and  shouted  the  news  in 
the  street,  "  Father  Matthew  is  at  the 
hotel ! "  The  people  began  to  gather,  and 
by  the  time  breakfast  was  over,  thousands 
were  wedged  about  the  coach,  so  that  it 
could  not  start.  They  demanded  to  receive 
the  pledge  from  his  hand.  He  had  them 
kneel  down  in  great  long  rows,  and  pledged 
them  one  after  another.  But  as  fast 
as  he  got  rid  of  one  large  batch,  another 
much  larger  took  its  place — and  all  this 
time  the  crowd  becoming  more  dense,  in 
consequence  of  frequent  accessions  from  the 
surrounding  country;  so  that  it  was  not 
until  after  a  delay  of  five  hours,  during 


88  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

which  Father  Matthew  worked  as  he  never 
worked  before  in  his  life,  that  the  Royal 
Mail  Coach  was  well  out  of  the  town  of 
Athy. 

In  1844  Father  Matthew  paid  a  visit  to 
England,  where  he  was  received  with  the 
greatest  kindness  and  enthusiasm  on  all 
sides,  and  in  the  course  of  a  campaign  of  a 
few  weeks  six  hundred  thousand  persons 
took  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  and  even 
this  could  not  estimate  the  good  which  he 
did,  for  an  eye-witness  writing  of  it  at  the 
time  said :  "  It  is  a  matter  of  little  difficulty 
to  compute  the  numbers  who  knelt  before 
Father  Matthew  and  received  the  pledge  at 
his  hands;  but  it  would  be  a  difficult  task, 
indeed,  to  tell  the  good  which  he  accom 
plished,  the  fallen  whom  he  raised,  the 
erring  whom  he  brought  back  to  virtue,  the 
despairing  whom  he  comforted,  tlie  hungry 
and  the  naked  whom  he  fed  and  clad." 

Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler  has  given  a  most 
interesting  account  in  his  "  Recollections 
of  a  Long  Life,"  of  meeting  Father  Matthew 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  89 

in  Scotland,  and  of  making  his  first  youthful 
temperance  address  in  his  presence.  Dr. 
Cuyler  says : 

"  When  I  made  my  first  visit  to  Edinburgh 
in  1842,  I  learned  that  a  temperance  society 
of  that  city  was  about  to  go  over  to  Glas 
gow  to  meet  the  celebrated  Father  Theobald 
Matthew,  who  was  making  his  first  visit  to 
Scotland.  I  joined  my  Edinburgh  friends, 
and  on  arriving  in  Glasgow  we  found  a  mul 
titude  of  over  fifty  thousand  people  as 
sembled  on  the  green.  In  an  open  barouche, 
drawn  by  four  horses,  stood  a  short,  stout 
Irishman,  with  a  handsome  benevolent 
countenance,  and  attired  in  a  long  black 
coat,  with  a  silver  medal  hanging  upon  his 
breast.  After  the  procession,  headed  by  his 
carriage,  had  forced  its  way  through  the 
densely  thronged  street,  it  halted  in  a  small 
open  square.  Father  Matthew  dismounted, 
and  began  to  administer  the  pledge  of  ab 
stinence  to  those  who  were  willing  to  re 
ceive  it.  They  kneeled  on  the  ground  in 
platoons;  the  pledge  was  read  aloud  to 


90  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

them ;  Father  Matthew  laid  his  hands  upon 
them,  and  pronounced  a  benediction.  From 
the  necks  of  many  a  small  medal  attached  to 
a  cord  was  suspended.  In  this  rapid  man 
ner,  the  pledge  was  administered  to  many 
hundreds  of  persons  within  an  hour,  and 
fresh  crowds  continually  came  forward. 

"  When  I  was  introduced  to  the  good  man 
as  an  American,  he  spoke  a  few  kind  words, 
and  gave  me  an  "  apostolic  kiss  "  upon  my 
cheek.  As  I  was  about  to  make  the  first 
public  speech  of  my  life,  I  suppose  that  I 
may  regard  that  act  of  the  great  Irish 
apostle  as  a  sort  of  ordination  to  the  min 
istry  of  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Total  Ab 
stinence.  The  administration  of  the  pledge 
was  followed  by  a  grand  meeting  of  wel 
come  in  the  City  Hall.  Father  Matthew 
spoke  with  modest  simplicity  and  deep  emo 
tion,  attributing  all  his  wonderful  success 
to  the  direct  blessings  of  God  upon  his 
efforts  to  persuade  his  fellow-men  to  throw 
off  the  despotism  of  the  bottle.  After  de 
livering  my  maiden  speech,  I  hastened  back 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  91 

to  Edinburgh  with  the  deputation  from 
'  Auld  Reekie/  and  I  never  saw  Father 
Matthew  again.  He  was,  unquestionably, 
the  most  remarkable  temperance  reformer 
who  has  yet  appeared." 

In  1849,  Father  Matthew  paid  a  long-con 
templated  visit  to  America,  and  on  the 
second  day  of  July  of  that  year  the  City  of 
New  York  bade  him  a  most  remarkable 
welcome.  The  Municipal  Council,  accom 
panied  by  deputations  from  various  public 
bodies  and  societies,  met  him  at  Staten 
Island  on  a  steamer  to  conduct  him  to 
Castle  Garden,  where  his  arrival  was 
awaited  by  an  immense  assembly.  The 
ships  in  the  harbor  were  covered  with  flags, 
strains  of  music  floated  in  the  air,  and 
cheers  were  heard  from  many  a  vessel  as  the 
steamer  bearing  Father  Matthew  proceeded 
up  the  harbor.  Of  course,  the  wild  ringing 
cheers  of  the  Irish  could  be  heard  above  all, 
as  they  occupied  every  vantage  ground 
that  enabled  them  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
their  beloved  countryman,  from  whose  hands 


92  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

many  thousands  among  them  had  received 
the  pledge  in  the  old  country. 

Mayor  Woodhull,  in  his  speech  of  wel 
come  to  Father  Matthew,  said  : 

"  On  this  spot  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  receive  the  most  distinguished  men  of  our 
own  and  other  lands.  The  statesman,  bear 
ing  the  highest  honors  of  his  much  loved 
country,  and  the  victor,  fresh  from  the  field 
of  his  proud  triumphs,  have  here  been  greeted 
with  the  salutations  of  the  most  elevated  in 
authority,  and  with  the  general  welcome  of 
the  citizens  of  this  metropolis.  But  you, 
sir,  come  among  us  with  a  highly  different 
and  peculiar  distinction.  The  honors  which 
you  wear  have  been  accorded  to  you  by  those 
who  revere  you  for  your  deeds  of  love  and 
benevolence.  Your  titles  are  written  on  the 
hearts  of  the  uncounted  masses  whom  your 
heroic  perseverance  in  the  humble  acts  of 
mercy  and  good  will  have  saved  from  a  fate 
even  more  dreadful  than  the  grave.  Your 
victories  are  not  made  up  of  the  dead  and 
dying  left  behind  in  your  path,  but  of  living 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  93 

thousands  whom  you  hare  rescued  from  a 
fate  more  remorseless  than  the  conqueror's 
march.  Your  trophies  are  seen  in  the  smil 
ing  faces  and  happy  homes  of  the  countless 
multitudes  whom  you  have  won  from  the 
deepest  abyss  of  wretchedness  and  despair. 
The  enemy  with  whom  you  have  grappled  is 
one  of  the  direst  to  the  human  race.  Fright 
ful  are  the  ravages  of  plague,  and  vast  the 
preparations  to  stay  its  desolating  curse; 
but  the  destroying  angel  of  Intemperance 
has  entombed  more  victims  than  any  pesti 
lence  which  has  ever  afflicted  the  human 
family.  All  seasons  are  its  own,  and  no 
physician  can  baffle  its  downward  progress. 
Quarantines  and  sanitary  precautions  can 
not  check  its  career.  Yet  there  is  one 
human  power  that  can  subdue  the  enemy  of 
man.  It  is  the  moral  power  of  a  persuasive, 
earnest,  and  benevolent  heart,  that  sum 
mons  all  its  affections,  and  with  heroic  sub- 
blimity,  concentrates  all  its  energies  to  the 
single  work  to  be  accomplished.  It  is  this 
power  which  you  have  so  successfully  exer- 


94  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

cised,  and  by  which  you  have  attained  such 
astonishing  results." 

In  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  reception, 
the  Common  Council  of  New  York  City  en 
tertained  Father  Matthew  at  a  public  din 
ner,  at  which  all  healths  were  drunk,  and 
all  toasts  honored,  in  glasses  of  pure 
"  Croton."  "  There  is  as  much  sincerity," 
said  the  great  temperance  reformer,  "  in 
water  as  in  wine ;  and  I  beg  to  give,  in  a  full 
bumper  of  this  pure  liquid,  the  health  and 
prosperity  of  the  Mayor  and  citizens  of  New 
York." 

For  the  two  weeks  following  his  wonder 
ful  welcome  to  New  York  City,  Father  Mat 
thew  held  levees  in  City  Hall,  which  was 
daily  thronged  with  visitors  of  every  class 
and  condition,  and  representing  every  sect 
and  nationality  in  the  United  States.  So 
great  was  the  inconvenience  from  crowding 
on  the  first  two  days  that  it  became  neces 
sary  to  have  one  day  set  apart  for  the  recep 
tion  of  ladies,  and  the  next  for  the  reception 
of  gentlemen. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  95 

Father  Matthew's  visit  to  America  gave 
an  immense  impulse  to  the  temperance 
movement,  which  was  felt  not  only  where 
he  spoke,  and  by  those  who  came  under  the 
magic  of  his  presence,  but  by  multitudes  in 
far-distant  sections  of  the  country  who  were 
never  permitted  to  look  upon  his  face.  It 
is,  of  course,  impossible  to  tell  how  much 
influence  the  movement  led  by  Father  Mat 
thew  had  on  the  mind  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  his  decision,  both  by  example  and  pre 
cept,  to  stand  for  total  abstinence.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact,  however,  to  note  that  the 
same  Sangamon  Weekly  Journal,  a  paper 
which  Lincoln  constantly  read,  and  which 
published  Lincoln's  temperance  address, 
given  in  a  previous  chapter,  contained  at 
length,  frequent  references  to  Father  Mat 
thew's  work,  and  quotations  from  his  ad 
dresses. 


THE  WASHINGTONIANS  AND  OTHER 
TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  SOCIETIES 


When  I  compare  the  past  with  the  present, 
my  days  of  intemperance  with  my  present 
peace  and  sobriety,  my  past  degradation 
with  my  present  position  in  this  hall — the 
Cradle  of  Liberty — I  am  overwhelmed.  It 
seems  to  me  holy  ground. 

I  never  expected  to  see  this  hall.  I  heard 
of  it  in  my  boyhood.  'Ticas  here  that  Otis 
and  the  elder  Adams  argued  the  principles 
of  independence,  and  we  now  meet  here  to 
make  a  second  declaration  of  independence, 
not  quite  so  lengthy  as  the  old  one,  but  it 
promises  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  Our  forefathers  pledged  their 
lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor; 
we,  too,  will  pledge  our  honor  and  our  lives, 
but  our  fortunes — they  have  gone  for 
rum! — JOHN  HAWKINS,  the  Leader  of  the 
Washingtonians,  in  a  speech  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  Boston. 


CHAPTE    \.<\ 


THE     WASHINGTONIANS 

ABSTINENCE    SOCIETIES 


PERHAPS  no  reform  movement  in  the 
world  ever  had  so  unique  a  beginning 
as  the  Washingtonian  movement.  It  had 
its  origin  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  in  the 
year  1840,  in  a  liquor  saloon.  Half  a  dozen 
men  who  were  hard  topers  had  organized 
themselves  into  a  club,  and  they  used  to 
meet  and  have  their  sprees  in  Chase's  Tav 
ern.  One  night  a  distinguished  temperance 
lecturer,  the  Rev.  Matthew  Hale  Smith,  was 
billed  to  speak  in  one  of  the  churches,  and 
this  drunkards'  club,  in  some  freak  spirit, 
appointed  two  of  their  number  a  committee 
to  go  and  hear  him.  The  committee  were 
very  much  impressed  with  the  arguments 
and  appeals  which  they  heard,  and  when 
they  came  back  with  a  favorable  report, 


100          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

there  was  a  very  heated  discussion  in  the 
club.  The  saloon-keeper  overheard  their 
talk,  and  at  once  burst  forth  in  a  tirade  of 
abase  against  all  temperance  lecturers,  de 
nouncing  them  as  fools  and  hypocrites. 

In  reply  to  tlie  saloon-keeper,  one  man 
was  sober  enough  to  respond,  "  Of  course  it 
is  for  your  interest  to  cry  them  down  " ; 
whereupon  the  discussion  waxed  hotter  and 
hotter,  and  the  marvelous  result  of  the  de 
bate  was  that  the  six  men  formed  them 
selves  into  a  temperance  club,  which  they 
styled  the  "  Washingtonian  Total  Absti 
nence  Society,"  and  adopted  a  pledge  requir 
ing  total  abstinence  from  the  use  of  all  in 
toxicating  drinks. 

The  names  of  these  six  individuals  were 
William  K.  Mitchell,  John  F.  Hoss,  David 
Anderson,  George  Stears,  James  McCurley, 
and  Archibald  Campbell.  John  Hawkins 
early  became  a  member,  and  was  the  most 
important  figure  during  the  early  and  grow 
ing  development  of  the  movement,  but  was 
not  one  of  the  original  six.  They  voted  to 


THE  EINCOLX  LEGION         101 

meet  the  next  night  in  a  carpenter  shop,  and 
each  agreed  to  bring  a  new  member.  For  a 
long  time  they  met  nearly  every  night,  and, 
naturally,  before  a  great  while,  their  meet 
ings  attracted  public  attention. 

These  reformed  men  soon  received  invita 
tions  to  other  cities  and  towns;  the  move 
ment  spread  from  city  to  'oitj^  Hud* from 
town  to  town,  until  there  ,w#s  s^afecePv;  #, 
thickly  inhabited  community  in  the  United 
States  that  did  not  have  its  Washingtonian 
Total  Abstinence  Society.  Men  who  had 
been  drunkards  for  years  burst  the  bontls 
that  had  so  long  bound  them,  and  became 
temperance  reformers.  Indeed,  the  entire 
movement  was  unique  in  that  it  had  begun 
among  the  drinkers  themselves,  and  as  such 
it  immediately  became  famous.  It  was 
largely  carried  on  through  many  men  tell 
ing  their  own  experience,  and  many  drunk 
ards  that  could  not  have  been  reached  by 
the  oratory  of  the  most  eloquent  speaker, 
were  reached  through  the  stumbling  story 
of  another  man  who  had  himself  been  in  the 


102  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

toils  of  strong  drink  and  knew  its  tempta 
tions  and  its  sorrows. 

The  most  striking  figure  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Washingtonian  movement  was  John 
Hawkins.  He  was  born  in  Baltimore,  on 
the  28th  of  September,  1797.  After  some 
years  at  the  school  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ooxe,  at 
the  age' of  fourteen  he  was  apprenticed  for 
eight,  year's  to  i earn  the  trade  of  a  hatter 
with  a  master  whose  place  of  business  was 
a  regular  den  of  drunkenness.  Of  the  sixty 
men  who  were  working  there  at  the  time  he 
entered,  every  man  died  a  drunkard. 

When  the  British  made  a  landing  at  Balti 
more  during  the  War  of  1812,  young  Haw 
kins  borrowed  a  musket  and  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  volunteers,  exposing  himself 
with  all  the  rashness  and  abandon  of  South 
ern  youth,  in  the  very  front  of  the  battle, 
from  which,  however,  he  escaped  unhurt. 
Afterwards  he  went  West,  where  he  became 
not  only  a  drunkard,  but  a  vagabond.  He 
says  of  himself  : 

"  For  six  months  I  had  no  shoes,  and 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          103 

only  one  shirt  and  one  pair  of  pantaloons. 
Then  I  was  a  vagabond,  indeed,  but  I  re 
turned,  ragged  and  bloated,  to  my  mother's 
home. 

"When  I  got  to  the  edge  of  my  native 
town  I  was  so  ashamed  that  I  waited  till  the 
dusk  of  the  evening,  and  then  I  crept  along 
to  the  house  of  my  mother.  She  dressed  me 
up  decently,  did  not  upbraid  me,  but  only 
said,  '  John,  I  am  afraid  you  are  bloated ! '  " 

Young  Hawkins,  having  temporarily  re 
formed,  was  married  on  Christmas  Day, 
1822,  to  Miss  Rachel  Thompson,  of  Balti 
more,  of  which  marriage  two  children  were 
born,  Elizabeth  and  Hannah.  He  did  bet 
ter  for  a  good  while,  but  then  grew  worse 
until  he  became  a  confirmed  sot.  He  writes 
of  his  condition : 

"  During  the  first  two  weeks  of  June, 
1840,  I  drank  dreadfully,  bought  liquor  by 
the  gallon,  and  drank  and  drank.  I  cannot 
tell  how  I  suffered ;  in  body  everything,  but 
in  mind  more! 

"  By  the  14th  of  the  month — drunk  all 


104          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  time — I  was  a  wonder  to  myself,  aston 
ished  that  I  had  any  mind  left;  and  yet  it 
seemed,  in  the  goodness  of  God,  uncom 
monly  clear.  My  conscience  drove  me  to 
madness.  I  hated  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
and  when  morning  came,  I  hated  the  light; 
I  hated  myself,  hated  existence;  was  about 
taking  my  own  life.  I  asked  myself,  '  Can  I 
restrain?  Is  it  possible? '  But  there  was 
no  one  to  take  me  by  the  hand,  and  say 
you  can.  '  I  had  a  pint  of  whisky  in  my 
room,  where  I  lay  in  bed,  and  thought  I 
would  drink  it,  but  this  seemed  to  be  a 
turning  point  wTith  me.  I  know  it  was  life 
or  death,  as  I  decided  to  drink  it  or  not. 

"  My  wife  came  up,  knowing  how  I  was 
suffering,  and  asked  me  to  come  down  to 
breakfast.  I  said  I  would  come  presently. 
Then  my  daughter  Hannah  came  up — my 
only  friend,  I  always  loved  her  the  most — 
and  she  said : 

"  '  Father,  don't  send  me  after  whisky  to 
day!' 

"  I  was  tormented  before;  this  was  agony. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  105 

I  could  not  stand  it,  so  I  told  her  to  leave, 
and  she  went  downstairs  crying,  and  saying, 
'  Father  is  angry  with  me.'  My  wife  came 
up  again,  and  asked  me  to  take  some  coffee. 
I  told  her  I  did  not  want  anything  of  her, 
and  covered  myself  up  in  bed.  Pretty  soon 
I  heard  someone  in  the  room,  and,  peeping 
out,  I  saw  it  was  my  daughter. 

" '  Hannah,'  said  I,  '  I'm  not  angry  with 
you — and — I  shall  not  drink  any  more.' 
Then  we  wept  together. 

"  I  got  up,  went  to  the  cupboard  and 
looked  on  my  enemy,  the  whisky  bottle,  and 
thought,  <  Is  it  possible  I  can  be  restored? ' 
Several  times  while  dressing  I  looked  at  the 
bottle,  but  I  thought,  '  I  shall  be  lost  if  I 
yield.' 

"  Well,  I  went  to  the  society  of  reformed 
drunkards,  where  I  found  all  my  old  bottle 
companions.  I  did  not  tell  anyone,  not 
even  my  wife,  that  I  was  going.  I  had  got 
out  of  difficulty,  but  did  not  know  how  long 
I  could  keep  out. 

"  The  six  founders  of  the  Society  were 


106          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

there.  We  had  worked  together,  got  drunk 
together,  we  stuck  together  like  brothers. 

"  One  of  them  said,  <  Here's  Hawkins,  the 
regulator,  the  old  bruiser/  and  they  clapped 
and  laughed,  but  there  was  no  laugh  in  me, 
I  was  too  solemn  and  sober  for  that.  Then 
they  read  the  pledge : 

"  '  We,  whose  names  are  annexed,  desirous 
of  forming  a  Society  for  our  mutual  benefit 
and  to  guard  against  a  pernicious  practice 
which  is  injurious  to  our  health,  standing, 
and  families,  do  pledge  ourselves  as  gentle 
men,  that  we  will  not  drink  any  spirituous 
or  malt  liquors,  wine,  or  cider.' 

"  They  all  looked  over  my  shoulder  to  see 
me  write  my  name.  It  was  a  great  battle. 
I  never  had  such  feelings  before. 

"  At  eleven  o'clock  I  went  home.  Before 
when  I  stayed  out  late  I  always  went  home 
drunk.  My  yard  was  covered  with  brick, 
and  my  wife  could  easily  tell  as  I  walked 
over  it  whether  I  was  drunk  or  sober.  She 
could  even  tell  whether  the  gate  opened 
drunk  or  sober. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          107 

"  Well,  this  time  it  opened  sober,  and 
when  I  entered  she  was  astonished.  I 
smiled,  and  she  smiled ;  and  then  I  told  her 
quick — I  could  not  keep  it  back : 

"  '  I  have  put  my  name  to  the  temperance 
pledge,  never  to  drink  as  long  as  I  live.' 

"  It  was  a  happy  time.  I  cried  and  she 
cried — we  couldn't  help  it — the  crying  woke 
up  my  daughter,  and  she  cried  too  for  joy. 
I  slept  none  that  night;  niy  thoughts  were 
better  than  sleep.  Next  morning  I  went  to 
see  my  mother.  She  had  been  praying 
twenty  years  for  her  drunken  son.  When 
she  heard  the  good  news  she  said,  <  It  is 
enough.  Now  I  am  ready  to  die/  ' 

The  Washingtonian  meetings  might  have 
been  called  temperance  class  meetings.  Re 
formed  men  went  about  telling  their  experi 
ence,  and  that  encouraged  others.  In  one 
of  his  meetings  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston, 
John  Hawkins  said : 

"  Drunkard !  come  up  here !  You  can  re 
form.  I  met  a  gentleman  this  morning  who 
reformed  four  weeks  ago,  rejoicing  in  his  ref- 


108          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ormation ;  he  brought  a  man  with  him  who 
took  the  pledge,  and  this  man  brought  two 
others.  This  is  the  way  we  do  the  business 
up  in  Baltimore.  We  reformed  drunkards 
are  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  State 
of  the  Union.  We  are  all  missionaries. 
We  don't  slight  the  drunkard ;  we  love  him, 
we  nurse  him,  as  a  mother  does  her  infant 
learning  to  walk." 

During  its  days  of  popularity  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  meetings  were  often  enthusiastic 
and  excited  to  the  last  degree;  the  experi 
ences  of  men  who  had  been  notorious  for 
their  drunkenness  and  debauchery  now 
actually  reformed,  presented  an  argument 
that  nothing  could  resist,  and  when  they 
appeared  on  a  platform  at  a  meeting,  it 
seemed  like  a  miracle  to  the  people.  In  the 
back  part  of  the  audience  poor  drunken 
creatures  would  rise  up,  and,  with  a  look  of 
desperation  on  their  whisky-bloated  faces, 
would  cry  out : 

"  Do  you  think  I  could  reform?  Do  you 
think  there  is  any  hope  for  me?  " 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  109 

"  Yes,  brother.  Sign  the  pledge,  and  it 
will  make  a  sober  man  of  you,"  would  be  the 
reply.  Then,  amid  the  sobs  and  "  God 
bless  you's  "  of  his  family  and  friends,  as 
well  as  scores  of  those  who  had  but  lately 
escaped  from  the  enemy,  the  poor  drunkard 
would  find  his  way  trembling  to  the  plat 
form  and  write  his  name,  while  the  whole 
audience  seemed  to  hold  its  breath,  and 
tears  were  on  every  face. 

That  the  Washingtonian  movement  did 
great  good  is  beyond  all  cavil.  The  good 
done  by  it  was  so  great  that  the  temperance 
question  has  been  on  a  higher  level  ever 
since.  For  a  time  it  produced  a  revolution 
in  the  drinking  habits  of  the  country.  The 
weak  spot  in  the  Washingtonian  movement 
seems  to  have  been  in  the  fact  that  many  of 
the  leaders  of  the  movement,  instead  of  feel 
ing  the  need  of  religion  to  strengthen  and 
sustain  the  human  will,  declared  that 
religious  exercises  were  out  of  place  in 
temperance  meetings,  and  would  not  con 
sent  for  the  meeting  to  be  opened  with 


110          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

prayer.  By  leaders  of  this  type  the  move 
ment  a,s  divorced  from  the  churches,  to  its 
infinite  loss.  Of  course,  this  was  not  always 
the  case,  and  oftentimes  where  pastors  were 
wise,  great  revivals  of  religion  followed  a 
Washingtonian  campaign,  and  Christian 
ministers  as  a  rule  were  naturally  earnest 
supporters  of  the  movement. 

The  Washingtonian  movement  was 
thought  by  some  of  the  earnest  leaders  of  the 
day  to  lack  the  element  of  permanency.  In 
every  city  thousands  of  people  united  with 
the  Society  and  took  the  total  abstinence 
pledge  who  had  been  victims  of  strong 
drink.  Indeed,  John  Hawkins  declared 
that  under  the  influence  of  the  Washing 
tonian  meetings  four-fifths  of  all  the  drunk 
ards  in  Boston  had  signed  the  temperance 
pledge.  It  was  felt  that  these  men  who 
had  been  so  under  the  power  of  the  drinking 
habit,  needed  more  care  and  fraternal  fel 
lowship  than  could  be  given  by  so  informal 
a  society  as  the  Washingtonians.  With  this 
thought  in  mind,  there  sprang  up  after  a  few 


ill 


ll 

if  S 
' 


\ 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          111 

years  many  fraternal  organizations  having 
for  their  base-work  of  purpose  the  total  ab 
stinence  pledge. 

One  of  the  first,  and  perhaps  the  most  im 
portant  in  its  time,  was  known  as  the  Sons 
of  Temperance.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a 
member  of  this  organization.  It  had  its 
birth  in  New  York  City  in  1842,  at  Teeto 
taler's  Hall,  which  stood  at  71  Division 
Street.  This  Society  gave  four  dollars  a 
week  to  members  during  sickness  and  in  case 
of  death  thirty  dollars  was  appropriated  for 
funeral  expenses.  The  pledge  was  as  fol 
lows  : 

"  I  will  neither  make,  buy,  sell,  nor  use  as 
a  beverage,  any  spirituous  or  malt  liquors, 
wine,  or  cider."  This  Society  had  a  tremen 
dous  vogue.  Its  pledge  was  administered 
to  three  millions  of  men  and  women,  and  its 
influence  for  good  covered  the  whole  land. 

Next  in  importance,  perhaps,  in  wide 
spread  influence,  is  the  Independent  Order 
of  Good  Templars.  Its  platform  is  as  fol 
lows  : 


112          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

First:  Total  abstinence  from  all  intoxi 
cating  liquors  as  a  beverage. 

Second :  No  license,  in  any  form  or  under 
any  circumstances,  for  the  sale  of  such 
liquors  to  be  used  as  a  beverage. 

Third :  Absolute  prohibition  of  the  manu 
facture,  importation,  and  sale  of  intoxicat 
ing  liquors  for  such  purposes — prohibition 
by  the  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in  due 
form  of  law,  with  the  penalties  deserved  for 
a  crime  of  such  enormity. 

Fourth :  The  creation  of  a  healthy  public 
opinion  upon  the  subject  by  the  dissemina 
tion  of  the  truth. 

Fifth:  The  election  of  good  and  honest 
men  to  administer  the  laws. 

Sixth :  Persistence  in  efforts  toward  ulti 
mate  and  universal  success. 

In  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  the  pledge  is 
only  binding  during  a  membership  in  the 
order.  But  the  Good  Templar  total  ab 
stinence  pledge  is  for  life.  It  is  estimated 
that  during  the  history  of  the  order  more 
than  three  millions  of  people  have  been 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          113 

initiated,  and  at  one  time  nearly  seven  hun 
dred  thousand  names  were  upon  its  rolls. 
Space  does  not  permit  me  to  tell  the  story  of 
"  The  Temple  of  Honor,"  "  The  Independent 
Order  of  Rechabites,"  "  The  Independent 
Order  of  Good  Samaritans  and  Daughters 
of  Samaria,"  "The  Friends  of  Temperance," 
"  The  LTnited  Friends  of  Temperance," 
"  The  Cadets  of  Temperance,"  "  The  Band 
of  Hope,"  and  many  others. 

The  National  Temperance  Society  and 
Publication  House  was  organized  in  1865, 
for  the  special  work  of  creating  and  circulat 
ing  a  sound  temperance  literature  to  pro 
mote  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  from  all 
intoxicants,  and  to  unify  and  concentrate 
the  Temperance  and  Christian  sentiments 
against  the  drink  habit  and  the  drink  traffic. 
The  Society  is  genuinely  non-partisan,  and 
non-sectarian,  and  on  its  Board  of  Managers 
are  representatives  of  all  the  great  leading 
religious  denominations  and  temperance 
organizations  of  the  country.  The  Hon. 
William  E.  Dodge,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mark  Hop- 


114          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

kins,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler, 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  Mr.  Joshua  L.  Baily, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  Stuart  Dodge,  the 
present  president,  have  in  turn  stood  at  the 
head  of  this  useful  organization.  During 
the  years  since  its  foundation  it  has  issued 
over  twenty-two  hundred  different  publica 
tions,  printed  and  circulated  two  billion 
pages  of  temperance  literature,  and  in  this, 
and  other  missionary  work,  has  disbursed 
over  one  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

The  Society  publishes  The  National  Tem 
perance  Advocate,  a  sixteen-page  monthly 
for  adults,  The  Youth's  Temperance  Ban 
ner,  a  four- page  illustrated  paper  for  chil 
dren,  and  The  Water  Lily,  designed  for  the 
kindergarten  age.  Many  of  the  most 
earnest  and  faithful  temperance  workers  of 
the  past  and  present  generation  have 
wrought  heroically,  and  often  with  great 
personal  sacrifice,  through  this  Society. 
Among  the  names  of  its  most  faithful 
workers  is  that  of  the  late  Mr.  James  N. 
Stearns,  a  life-long  warrior  for  temperance, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  115 

and  the  present  editor  of  the  Society's 
publications,  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  B.  Dunn. 

It  is  interesting  as  an  illustration  of  a 
fact  often  commented  upon  that  at  the  birth 
of  any  great  movement  for  reform,  as  at  the 
perfection  of  any  great  invention,  it  is 
always  found  that  men  in  different  parts  of 
the  world  are  thinking  about  the  same 
things,  and  working  toward  the  same  ends. 
It  is  certainly  an  encouraging  indication 
that  the  times  are  ripe  for  a  new  and  world 
wide  movement  for  total  abstinence  through 
the  temperance  pledge  method,  that  the 
National  Temperance  Society  in  the  autumn 
of  1902,  sought  to  inaugurate  a  revival  of 
total  abstinence  preaching,  securing  by  cor 
respondence  and  personal  appeal  sermons 
in  thousands  of  churches,  and  special  ser 
vices  in  Sabbath  schools  where  the  temper 
ance  pledge  was  circulated.  Already  the 
Society  has  sent  out  two  and  a  half  millions 
of  pledges. 

The  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  of 
America,  the  first  Catholic  Convention  on 


116          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

this  continent  for  the  promotion  of  total 
abstinence,  was  held  in  the  city  of  Baltimore 
in  the  year  1872. 

When  Father  Matthew  was  in  this  coun 
try  in  1849,  he  organized  a  number  of  soci 
eties  which  kept  up  their  existence,  and 
which  served  to  form  a  link  between  the  old 
and  the  new  epoch  in  Catholic  total  absti 
nence  work;  but  in  1860  only  about  twelve 
of  these  societies  were  in  existence. 

In  I860  a  young  priest,  the  Rev.  Patrick 
Byrne,  became  an  assistant  to  one  of  the 
pastors  in  Jersey  City.  He  asked  per 
mission  of  his  superior  to  attempt  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  religious  total  abstinence 
society,  which  was  given,  and  the  Parochial 
Total  Abstinence  Society  was  founded. 
The  founder  says  of  it  himself: 

"  I  felt  from  the  first  the  frightful  nature 
of  this  vice,  and  I  determined  to  combat  it 
to  the  last  limit  allowed  me  by  the  Church ; 
but  I  soon  found  that  an  occasional  sermon, 
however  powerful  and  scathing,  or  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  pledge  now  and  then, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          117 

either  within  or  without  the  tribunal  of 
penance,  was  of  little  avail  against  a  vice 
which  had  interlaced  itself  with  all  the 
social  customs  of  our  people.  I  therefore 
began  to  establish  society  against  society." 
These  societies  have  spread  throughout 
the  union,  and  many  distinguished  Catholic 
clergymen,  notably  Archbishop  Ireland, 
have  given  great  and  powerful  support  to 
the  temperance  movement.  There  is  per 
haps  nothing  more  hopeful  for  the  future  of 
the  temperance  cause  in  America,  than  the 
utterances  already  made  and  the  promise 
of  advancement  to  more  pronounced  atti 
tude  in  favor  of  total  abstinence,  and  the 
destruction  of  the  saloon,  by  the  Catholic 
Church. 


JOHN  B.  GOUGH  AND  HIS  WORK 


Let  us  reverently  ask  God  to  bless  us  for 
his  great  name's  sake,  and  we  with  those  we 
have  worked  for  shall  stand  saved,  not  by 
our  own  efforts  alone  but  by  our  own  efforts 
blessed  and  acknowledged  by  Him  in  whose 
hands  are  the  destinies  of  all  men. — JOHN 
B.  GOUGH. 


CHAPTER  VI 

JOHN   B.   GOUGH  AND   HIS   WORK 

ON  the  last  Sunday  afternoon  in  Octo 
ber,  1842,  a  drunkard  stumbled  out 
from  a  humble  house  in  the  city  of  Worces 
ter,  Massachusetts.  He  was  about  half 
drunk  at  the  time,  and  the  flush  of  the 
liquor  was  on  his  face.  He  had  a  great 
sense  of  disgust  and  hatred  for  the  drink, 
and  yet  was  so  under  the  power  of  it  that  he 
started  to  go  down  the  street  to  the  nearest 
saloon  to  get  more  liquor. 

Just  then  he  felt  a  kind  touch  on  the 
shoulder.  He  turned  his  head  to  look  into 
the  eyes  of  a  stranger. 

"  Mr.  Gough,  I  believe,"  said  the  man  who 
had  touched  him. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  but  you  have 
the  advantage  of  me." 

"  My  name  is  Stratton — Joel  Stratton. 
121 


122          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

I'm  a  waiter  yonder,  in  the  Temperance 
Hotel.  You've  been  drinking  to-day." 

Stratton's  manner  was  so  considerate  and 
friendly  that  Gough  could  not  take  offense. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I  have." 

"  Why  don't  you  sign  the  pledge?  " 

"  I  have  no  will,  no  hope,  no  future — 
nothing.  The  drink  has  eaten  out  my  soul. 
Alcohol,  which  preserves  snakes,  destroys 
men.  I  couldn't  keep  the  pledge  if  I  took  it. 
My  dreadful  condition  is  that  I  at  once  hate 
rum  and  crave  it." 

Stratton  put  his  arm  through  that  of  the 
young  man,  and  walked  slowly  on  with  him. 

"  You  were  once  respectable,"  he  said ; 
"  wouldn't  you  like  to  be  so  again?  To  have 
friends,  to  be  a  useful  member  of  society?  " 

"  I  should  like  it  first  rate,"  retorted 
Gough;  "but  I  have  no  expectation  that 
such  a  thing  will  ever  happen." 

"  Only  sign  our  pledge,"  urged  Stratton, 
"and  I  will  warrant  that  it  shall  be  so. 
Sign  it,  and  I  will  myself  introduce  you  to 
good  friends  who  will  feel  an  interest  in 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          123 

your  welfare  and  take  pleasure  in  helping 
you  to  keep  your  good  resolutions.  Only 
sign  the  pledge,  Mr.  Gough,  and  all  will  be 
as  I  have  said ;  aye,  and  more,  too." 

So  kind,  so  earnest,  and  so  hopeful  was 
Mr.  Stratton  that  it  aroused  buried  hopes 
and  ambitions  in  the  poor  drunkard,  and 
with  some  decision  of  voice  he  said : 

"  I  will  sign  the  pledge." 

"  When?  "  asked  his  new  friend.  Gough 
hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  said :  "  I  can't 
do  it  to-night.  I  must  have  some  more 
drink  presently,  but  I  certainly  will  to 
morrow." 

"  We  have  a  temperance  meeting  in  the 
town  hall  to-morrow  evening,"  said  Strat 
ton.  "  Will  you  take  the  pledge  then?  " 

"  I  will !  " 

"  That  is  right,"  was  the  hearty  response. 
"  I  will  be  there  to  see  you." 

"  You  shall,"  said  Gough.  And  they 
parted.  Sure  enough,  the  next  night 
Gough,  trembling  and  despairing,  was  in 
the  hall  at  the  temperance  meeting.  He 


124          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

was  ragged,  and  looked  the  disreputable 
being  he  felt  himself  to  be.  A  call  was 
made  for  the  relation  of  experiences. 
Acting  under  sudden  impulse,  Gough  rose 
and  told  his  wretched  story.  That  was  his 
first  temperance  speech. 

Joel  Stratton  was  there  on  the  lookout 
for  him,  and  when  Gough  got  through  with 
his  terrible  story  he  brought  him  the  pledge 
and  gave  him  the  pen,  and  Gough  signed  it 
in  rambling,  crooked  characters. 

The  meeting  was  held  once  a  week  in  the 
temperance  hall,  and  the  next  Monday 
night,  when  the  time  for  the  experiences 
came  around,  Gough  rose  and  said : 

"  I  am  getting  on  very  well,  and  feel  a 
good  deal  better  than  I  did  a  week  ago." 

This  was  Gough's  second  temperance  ad 
dress.  He  was  to  be  the  most  famous 
orator  which  the  nineteenth  century  pro 
duced  in  the  defense  of  sobriety  and  total 
abstinence,  and  indeed,  his  eloquence  and 
oratorical  power  in  after  years  amounted  to 
no  less  than  genius.  But  all  these  had  been 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          125 

wasted  by  the  drink,  and  would  never  have 
been  dreamed  of  except  for  his  reformation. 
His  ability  to  speak  came  to  be  manifest  by 
degrees.  At  the  weekly  temperance  meet 
ings  he  usually  uttered  a  few  sentences. 
Gradually,  he  enlarged  upon  the  theme,  his 
passion  kindled,  his  humor  gained  freedom, 
and  his  pathos  self-respect.  It  was  not  long 
before  he  was  invited  to  repeat  the  story  of 
his  experience  in  other  towns  within  the 
reach  of  Worcester.  Thus  he  felt  his  way 
into  wider  notice  and  usefulness  as  a 
speaker.  At  this  time  nothing  was  farther 
from  his  thoughts  than  that  he  would  ever 
make  temperance  lecturing  a  business. 
This  went  on  for  a  long  time.  His  oratory 
grew  through  months  of  practice  in  country 
schoolhouses;  countless  verbal  repetitions 
of  his  biography,  aided  in  the  development 
of  his  powers.  He  worked  in  a  book- 
binder's-shop  all  day,  and  then  walked  or 
rode  in  the  evening  to  his  appointment  in 
some  near-by  town. 

Gough's  meetings  were  usually  held  in 


126          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

schoolhouses,  and  often  other  speakers  took 
part.  At  a  gathering  in  West  Boylston, 
Massachusetts,  Gough  first  occupied  the 
whole  evening,  and  earned  his  first  lecture- 
fee,  which  amounted  to  two  dollars,  so  that 
the  occasion  was  always  memorable  to  him. 
Finally  the  local  demands  for  his  services 
so  increased  that  he  took  off  his  apron,  left 
the  book-bindery,  and  began  his  career  as  a 
temperance  orator. 

For  years  John  B.  Gough  had  hard  work 
and  poor  pay.  Of  the  first  year  he  says: 
"  In  365  days  I  gave  383  addresses,  and  re 
ceived  for  them  |1059 — out  of  which  I 
paid  my  traveling  expenses;  traveled  6840 
miles ;  and  obtained  15,218  signatures  to  the 
pledge."  He  could  have  earned  a  great  deal 
more  money  at  bookbinding,  but  his  heart 
was  set  now  upon  something  better  than 
making  money.  Sometimes,  however,  the 
meanness  or  lack  of  thought  on  the  part  of 
his  audience,  put  him  in  trying  circum 
stances.  One  year  his  average  pay  for  a 
lecture  was  $2.77 !  He  tells  a  story  of  one 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          127 

case  as  follows :  "  Once,  after  I  had  been 
speaking  for  nearly  two  hours,  and  had 
taken  my  seat,  the  chairman  rose,  and  pro 
posed  a  vote  of  thanks,  which  was  passed 
unanimously.  As  the  audience  were  being 
dismissed,  I  asked  if  that  vote  of  thanks 
'  could  be  given  me  in  writing?  as  perhaps 
the  conductor  on  the  train  would  take  it  for 
my  fare/  The  hint  was  sufficient,  and  a 
collection  was  taken  up,  amounting  to  four 
dollars." 

No  sketch  of  John  B.  Gough  is  adequate 
that  does  not  refer  to  the  noble  fidelity  of 
Mary  Whitcoinb  Gough,  the  young  Yankee 
school-ma'am,  to  whom  the  orator  was 
married  November  24, 1843.  Gough  says  of 
her :  "  She  took  me  on  trust,  with  f S.50  in 
my  pocket;  but  Mary  was  willing  to  risk  it 
with  me." 

No  wife  was  ever  a  greater  blessing  to  a 
husband  than  Mary  Gough  was  to  hers. 
For  a  great  many  years  she  accompanied 
him  wherever  he  went.  Her  care  prolonged 
his  life,  and  made  it  doubly  useful. 


128          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Gough's  manner  of  speaking  was  so  ex 
hausting  to  him,  that  when  he  closed  a  lec 
ture  he  was  dripping  with  perspiration ;  his 
clothes  were  often  wringing  wet;  his  vitality 
was  spent;  he  was  in  a  state  of  collapse. 
Hours  of  skillful  attention  were  necessary 
in  order  to  soothe  him  into  quietude.  He 
had  to  be  recuperated  with  bath  and  food; 
nor  did  sleep  come  until  long  past  midnight. 
His  wife  was  his  constant  companion,  and 
his  skillful  loving  nurse.  No  wonder 
Gough's  common  phrase  about  her  was, 
"  My  brave,  faithful  Mary !  " 

After  their  marriage  Gough  and  his  wife 
went  to  Boston;  where  the  proud  husband 
introduced  his  bride  to  his  good  friend  and 
supporter,  Deacon  Grant.  The  good  dea 
con  was  much  interested  in  Gough,  and  had 
been  afraid  he  would  make  a  poor  choice  of 
a  wife.  He  looked  the  young  wife  over 
most  carefully  for  a  few  moments,  and  then 
said: 

"  John,  she  11  do !  " 

And     Gough,    recalling   the   incident    a 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


quarter  of  a  century  later,  said  :  "  Nobly  she 
has  done." 

No  one  can  understand  the  career  of  John 
B.  Gough  who  leaves  out  of  consideration 
the  great  fact  that  it  was  a  service  rendered 
with  most  devout  and  unselfish  desire  to 
serve  God  and  his  fellow-men.  On  one  oc 
casion  when  the  terms  offered  him  for  his 
work  were  such  that  they  could  barely  live, 
he  remarked  to  his  wife  that  they  were  not 
likely  to  get  rich  on  such  terms.  But  Mary 
Gough  bravely  answered  : 

"  No  matter,  John.  We  are  doing  the 
Lord's  work." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  thougK 
G  ough's  power  as  a  speaker  developed  very 
slowly  at  first,  that  after  he  began  to  speak 
every  day,  it  was  not  long  before  he  became 
conspicious  for  true  eloquence.  In  1844  he 
spoke  at  a  great  temperance  convention  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  Boston.  It  was  on  this  oc 
casion  that  he  is  believed  first  to  have  in 
troduced  his  apostrophe  to  water,  which 
soon  became  famous  across  the  continent. 


130          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Holding  in  his  hand  a  glass  filled  with  it,  he 
said: 

"Is  not  this  beautiful?  Talk  of  ruby 
wine.  Here  is  our  beverage — water,  pure 
water;  we  drink  it  to  quench  our  thirst. 
There  is  no  occasion  to  drink  except  to 
quench  one's  thirst ;  and  here  is  the  beverage 
our  Father  has  provided  for  his  children. 
When  Moses  smote  the  rock  the  people  were 
thirsty,  and  it  was  water  that  carne  forth, 
not  wine,  or  rum,  or  ale.  Were  you  ever 
thirsty,  with  lips  dry  and  feverish,  and 
throat  parched?  Did  you  ever  lift  the  gob 
let  of  pure  water  to  your  lips  and  feel  it 
trickling  over  the  tongue  and  gurgling  down 
the  throat?  Was  it  not  luxury?  Give  to 
the  traveler  on  the  burning  desert,  as  he  lies 
perishing  with  thirst,  a  goblet  of  cold  water, 
and  he  will  return  the  goblet  heaping  with 
gold;  give  him  wine,  rum,  or  ale,  and  he 
turns  away  in  feverish  disgust  to  die.  Our 
beverage  is  beautiful  and  pure,  for  God 
brewed  it — not  in  the  distillery,  but  out  of 
the  earth." 


If 

"*  c 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          131 

Little  by  little  Gough's  fame  grew  as  a 
lecturer  until  it  was  no  longer  confined  to 
America.  He  made  several  trips  to  Europe, 
and  became  as  popular  in  England  and  Ire 
land  and  Scotland  as  in  this  country.  He 
never  forgot  the  pit  from  which  he  was  dug, 
nor  the  power  of  kindness  to  reach  a  de 
spairing  heart,  nor  the  benefit  of  signing 
a  pledge  to  abstain  from  intoxicating 
drink. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  and  women 
and  children  signed  the  pledge  under  the  in 
fluence  of  his  impassioned  appeals.  He  did 
untold  good.  Here  is  a  story  which  may 
stand  as  a  typical  one,  fairly  represent 
ing  thousands  of  instances  of  a  similar 
character. 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  Gough  was  in  Covent 
Garden,  London,  when  a  man  came  to  him, 
and  said : 

"  Mr.  Gough,  I  want  you  to  come  into  my 
place  of  business." 

"  I'm  in  a  little  hurry  now,"  Gough  re 
plied. 


132          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

"  You  must  come  into  my  place  of  busi 
ness." 

Mr.  Gough  yielded  to  his  entreaties,  and 
followed  him  into  a  large  fruit  store,  where 
he  was  doing  business  to  the  amount  of 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  a  week.  As  soon  as 
they  were  safe  in  the  store  from  the  street, 
the  man  turned  and  caught  Gough  by  the 
hand,  and  said : 

"  God  bless  you,  sir !  " 

«  What  for?  " 

"  I  heard  you  in  Exeter  Hall  a  year  and  a 
half  ago,  and  signed  the  pledge.  I  was  a 
brute." 

"  No,  you  were  not." 

"  Well,  I  was  worse." 

"  No,  you  were  not." 

"  Well,  I  was  as  bad  as  I  could  be.  Look 
at  that  cellar!  I  spent  a  whole  Sunday  in 
that  cellar  on  a  heap  of  rotten  vegetables, 
with  a  rope  to  hang  myself  by !  Now,  sir,  I 
lease  that  cellar  and  clear  a  hundred  pounds 
a  year,  God  bless  you,  sir!  See  what  a 
business  I  ana  doing.  Look  here !  See  that 


THE  LIXCOLtf  LEGION          133 

woman  in  the  corner?  She's  my  wife.  La! 
How  I  have  knocked  her  about.  Would  you 
go  and  shake  hands  with  her?  " 

"  I  have  no  objection." 

"  Do,  sir." 

Gough  went  up  to  her,  and  offered  his 
hand.  She  held  back,  and  said,  "My 
fingers  are  so  sticky  with  the  fruit,  sir." 

"  La !  "  said  the  husband.  "  Mr.  Gough 
don't  mind  sticky  fingers." 

Gough  shook  hands  with  her,  heartily, 
and  says,  "  Our  fingers  stuck  together ! 
They  were  stickier  than  I  expected."  At 
the  sight  the  man  exclaimed : 

"  God  bless  you,  sir !  I  wish  to  give  you 
something.  Do  you  like  oranges?  " 

"  Sometimes." 

He  went  to  a  shelf  that  was  full  of  them 
and  began  to  fill  a  great  bag. 

After  he  had  put  in  a  dozen  or  so  Gough 
said,  "  That's  enough." 

But  the  man  paid  no  attention,  and  went 
on  filling  the  bag.  Then  he  put  it  in 
Gough's  arms,  and  said : 


134          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

"  There !  don't  say  a  word ;  but  go  along. 
God  bless  you !  " 

Gough,  in  telling  the  story,  said,  "  I 
had  positively  to  hire  a  cab  to  take  me 
home." 

The  later  years  of  Mr.  Gough  were  happj 
and  prosperous.  They  did  not  make  him 
proud,  or  rob  him  of  his  kindness  of  heart. 
When  Joel  Stratton,  the  man  whose  touch 
on  the  arm  that  October  Sunday  afternoon 
had  meant  salvation  to  him,  died,  leaving  his 
family  in  financial  straits,  Gough  counted  it 
a  privilege  to  settle  an  annuity  of  three 
hundred  dollars  upon  his  widow,  which  he 
paid  as  regularly  as  the  date  recurred  dur 
ing  her  life. 

John  B.  Gough  left  in  the  world  a  rare 
fragrance  of  loving  service  rendered  the 
poor  and  the  despairing,  to  whom  he  had 
been  as  the  angel  of  God.  There  were 
thousands  of  others  in  the  world,  who  felt 
about  him  as  the  English  woman  did,  who 
brought  a  faded  handkerchief  to  Mrs. 
Gough,  and  said : 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          135 

"  I  am  very  poor.  I  would  give  your  hus 
band  a  thousand  pounds  if  I  had  it — I  can 
only  give  him  this  (presenting  the  hand 
kerchief).  I  married  with  the  fairest 
prospects  before  me,  but  my  husband  took 
to  drinking,  and  everything  went,  until,  at 
last,  I  found  myself  in  one  miserable  room. 
My  husband  lay  drunk  in  the  corner,  and 
my  sick  child  lay  moaning  on  my  knee.  I 
wet  this  handkerchief  with  my  tears.  My 
husband  met  yours.  He  spoke  a  few  words, 
and  gave  a  grasp  of  the  hand ;  and  now  for 
sii  years  my  husband  has  been  all  to  me 
that  a  husband  can  be  to  a  wife.  I  have 
brought  your  husband  the  very  handker 
chief  I  wet  that  night  with  my  tears,  and  I 
want  him  to  remember  that  he  has  wiped 
away  those  tears  from  my  eyes,  I  trust  for 
ever."  Years  afterward  speaking  of  that 
handkerchief  Gough  said : 

"  You  do  not  think  it  worth  three  cents, 
but  you  have  not  money  enough  to  buy  it 
from  me.  These  are  the  things  that  make 
men  glad."  Few  men  have  had  so  much 


136          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

of  that  gladness  as  did  John  B.  Gough.  Oh 
Ood !  give  us  an  army  of  earnest-souled  and 
loving-hearted  men  and  women,  who  shall 
seek  their  gladness  in  thus  wiping  away  the 
tears  of  the  sorrowing! 


FRANCES  WILLARD  AND  THE 
WHITE  RIBBON  MOVEMENT 


When  God  lets  loose  an  idea  upon  this 
planet  we  vainly  set  limits  to  its  progress; 
and  I  believe  that  Gospel  Temperance  shall 
yet  transform  that  inmost  circle,  the  human 
heart,  and  in  its  widening  sweep  the  circle 
of  the  home,  and  then  society,  and  then 
pushing  its  argument  to  the  extreme  con 
clusion,  it  shall  permeate  the  icidest  circle 
of  them  all,  and  that  is,  government.— 
FRANCES  E.  WILLARD. 


CHAPTER   VII 

FRANCES    WILLARD    AND    THE    WHITE    RIBBON 
MOVEMENT 

ONE  evening  in  the  week  before  Christ 
mas,  1873,  Dr.  Dio  Lewis,  a  distin 
guished  physician,  and  a  popular  lyceum 
lecturer  of  the  time,  delivered  a  lecture  in 
Hill&boro,  Ohio,  on  "  Our  Girls."  He  had 
come  to  the  town  under  an  engagement  by 
the  Lecture  Association  to  fill  only  a  single 
evening  in  the  winter  lecture  course  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  people;  but  as  he 
happened  to  have  no  engagement  for  the 
next  evening,  some  earnest  spirits  persuaded 
him  to  remain  over  in  Hillsboro  and  deliver 
a  free  lecture  on  the  subject  of  temperance. 

Dr.  Lewis  was  entertained  in  the  home  of 
Judge  Thompson;  but  Mrs.  Thompson  had 
been  unable  to  attend  the  lecture  that  even 
ing  because  of  the  pressing  nature  of  her 

139 


140  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

household  duties.  Her  son,  a  youth  of  six 
teen,  was  present,  however,  and  after  the 
lecture,  greatly  excited  about  what  had 
transpired,  he  related  to  his  mother  that 
Dr.  Lewis  had  said  that  his  own  mother, 
and  several  of  her  good  Christian  friends, 
had  united  in  prayer  with  and  for  the  liquor 
sellers  of  his  native  town,  until  they  had 
given  up  their  soul-destroying  business,  and 
then  had  said,  "  Ladies,  you  might  do  the 
same  thing  in  Hillsboro  if  you  had  the  same 
faith  " ;  and,  turning  to  the  ministers  and 
temperance  men  who  were  upon  the  plat 
form,  added,  "  Suppose  I  ask  the  ladies  of 
this  audience  to  signify  their  opinions  upon 
the  subject?  "  As  they  all  seemed  pleased 
with  the  idea,  he  called  on  the  women  who 
were  in  favor  of  such  action  to  rise,  and 
fifty  or  more  women  had  stood  up  in  token 
of  approval.  He  then  asked  the  men  how 
many  of  them  would  stand  to  back  up  the 
women  if  they  should  undertake  the  work; 
and  some  sixty  or  seventy  had  arisen.  "  And 
now,  mother,"  said  the  enthusiastic  boy, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  141 

"  they  have  got  you  into  business,  for  you 
are  on  a  committee  to  do  some  work  at  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  the  morning  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  then  the  ladies  want  you  to  go 
out  with  them  to  the  saloons." 

Judge  Thompson  had  that  evening  re 
turned  from  court  in  another  county,  and, 
being  very  tired,  was  resting  on  the  sofa, 
and  the  mother  and  her  son,  supposing  that 
he  was  asleep,  had  been  speaking  in  an 
undertone;  but  as  the  boy  spoke  about  his 
mother  going  to  the  saloons,  the  Judge  sud 
denly  roused  up,  and  exclaimed,  "  What 
tomfoolery  is  all  that?  "  The  boy  slipped 
out  of  the  room,  and  went  to  bed,  while  Mrs. 
Thompson  assured  her  husband  that  she 
would  not  be  led  into  any  foolish  act  by  Dr. 
Dio  Lewis  or  anybody  else.  After  he  had 
relaxed  into  a  milder  mood,  though  con 
tinuing  to  scoff  at  the  whole  plan  as  "  tom 
foolery,"  the  good  woman  ventured  to  re 
mind  him  that  the  men  had  been  in  the 
"  tomfoolery "  business  a  long  time,  and 
suggested  that  it  might  be  "God's  will" 


142          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

that  the  women  should  now  take  their 
part. 

The  next  morning,  after  breakfast,  when 
they  were  gathered  in  the  sitting-room,  her 
son  came  up,  and  laying  his  hand  on  his 
mother's  shoulder,  inquired,  "  Mother,  are 
you  not  going  over  to  the  church  this  morn 
ing?  "  As  she  hesitated,  and  doubtless 
showed  in  her  countenance  that  she  was 
greatly  perplexed,  the  boy  said,  "  But,  my 
dear  mother,  you  know  you  have  to  go." 
Then  her  daughter,  who  was  sitting  on  a 
stool  at  her  side,  leaned  over  in  a  most  ten 
der  manner,  and  looking  up  in  her  face, 
said,  "  Don't  you  think  you  will  go?  " 

While  this  conversation  had  been  going 
on,  Judge  Thompson  had  been  walking  the 
floor  in  silence.  Suddenly  he  stopped,  and 
placing  his  hand  upon  the  family  Bible  that 
lay  upon  his  wife's  work-table,  he  said, 
"  Children,  you  know  where  your  mother 
goes  to  settle  all  vexed  questions.  Let  u» 
leave  her  alone."  As  he  ceased  speaking  he 
walked  out  of  the  room,  and  the  children 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          143 

followed.  Mrs.  Thompson  turned  the  key 
in  the  lock,  and  was  in  the  act  of  kneel 
ing  down  to  pray  when  she  heard  a  gentle 
tap  at  the  door.  Upon  opening  it,  she  found 
her  daughter  with  her  Bible  open,  and  the 
tears  coursing  down  her  cheeks  as  she  said, 
"  I  opened  to  this,  mother;  it  must  be  for 
you."  She  immediately  left  the  room,  and 
her  mother  sat  down  to  read  with  new  in 
sight  the  wonderful  message  of  promise  in 
the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-sixth  Psalm. 
It  seemed  a  new  psalm  to  her  as  she  read : 

"  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the 
son  of  man,  in  whom  there  is  no  help.  .  . 
Happy  is  he  that  hath  the  God  of  Jacob  for 
his  help,  whose  hope  is  in  the  Lord  his  God : 
which  made  heaven,  and  earth,  the  sea,  and 
all  that  therein  is :  which  keepeth  truth  for 
ever:  which  executeth  judgment  for  the  op 
pressed:  which  giveth  food  to  the  hungry. 
The  Lord  looseth  the  prisoners:  the  Lord 
openeth  the  eyes  of  the  blind:  the  Lord 
raiseth  them  that  are  bowed  down :  the  Lord 
loveth  the  righteous:  the  Lord  preserveth 


144  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  strangers;  he  relieveth  the  fatherless 
and  the  widow :  but  the  way  of  the  wicked  he 
turneth  upside  down." 

Doubting  no  longer  what  her  duty  was, 
she  at  once  went  to  the  Presbyterian  church, 
where  quite  a  large  congregation  had 
already  gathered.  She  was  at  once  unan 
imously  chosen  as  the  President;  Mrs.  Gen 
eral  McDowell,  Vice-president;  and  Mrs.  D. 
K.  Finner,  Secretary,  of  the  unique  work 
which  they  were  to  perform. 

They  drew  up  appeals  to  druggists, 
saloon-keepers,  and  hotel  proprietors.  Then 
Dr.  Me  Surely,  the  Presbyterian  minister, 
who  had  up  to  this  time  occupied  the  chair, 
called  upon  the  new  president  to  come  for 
ward  and  take  her  place.  She  tried  to  get 
up ;  but,  having  never  done  any  public  work, 
her  limbs  refused  to  act,  and  she  sat  still. 
Wise  Dr.  McSurely  looked  around  at  the 
men  and  said,  "Brethren,  I  see  that  the 
ladies  will  do  nothing  while  we  remain ;  let 
us  adjourn,  leaving  this  new  work  with  God 
and  the  women." 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  145 

After  the  men  had  filed  out,  and  the  door 
was  closed  behind  them,  new  strength 
seemed  to  come  to  Mrs.  Thompson ;  and  she 
walked  forward  to  the  minister's  table,  took 
the  large  Bible,  and,  opening  it,  told  the 
story  of  the  morning's  conversation  and 
experiences  in  her  own  home.  After  she 
had  read  the  psalm  brought  to  her  notice 
by  her  daughter,  and  had  tearfully  com 
mented  on  it,  she  called  upon  Mrs.  McDowell 
to  lead  in  prayer.  Now,  Mrs.  McDowell, 
though  a  good  Christian  woman  for  many 
years,  had  never  in  all  her  life  heard  her 
own  voice  in  prayer;  but  she  prayed  that 
morning  as  though  Isaiah's  "  coal  of  fire  " 
had  unsealed  her  lips. 

As  they  rose  from  their  knees,  the  Presi 
dent  asked  Mrs.  Cowden,  the  wife  of  the 
Methodist  minister,  to  lead  in  the  singing  of 
the  old  hymn  "  Give  to  the  winds  thy 
fears" ;  and  turning  to  the  rest  of  the  women 
she  said,  "As  we  all  join  in  singing  this 
hymn,  let  us  form  in  line,  two  and  two,  the 
small  women  in  front,  leaving  the  tall  ones 


146          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

to  bring  up  in  the  rear,  and  let  us  at  once 
proceed  to  our  sacred  mission,  trusting 
alone  in  the  God  of  Jacob."  As  they 
marched  out  through  the  door  of  the  church 
into  the  street,  they  were  singing  these 
prophetic  words: 


Far,  far  above  thy  thought, 

His  counseli  shall  appear, 
When  fully  he  the  work  hath  wrought 

That  caused  thy  needless  fear." 


They  went  to  drug  stores  and  saloons  and 
hotels ;  they  pleaded  and  sung  and  prayed, 
until  saloon  after  saloon  was  closed  at  their 
entreaties.  It  was  a  divine  contagion  that 
spread  throughout  the  land.  In  hundreds 
of  towns  and  villages,  from  one  ocean  to  the 
other,  Christian  women  followed  their  ex 
ample.  Sometimes  they  were  abused  and 
mobbed ;  in  some  places  they  were  arrested 
and  thrown  into  jail;  but  it  was  a  divine 
work;  God  was  in  it,  and  great  good  was 
accomplished. 

Out  of  this  wonderful  upheaval,  known  as 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  147 

the  "  Woman's  Crusade,"  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  came  into 
being,  with  its  pledges  and  its  bows  of  white 
ribbon.  For  years  there  had  been  growing 
in  Illinois  a  farmer's  girl,  clean  and  whole 
some  and  strong.  She  had  been  educated, 
not  only  in  college,  but  by  travel  and  hard 
work  as  a  teacher,  for  the  very  purpose  of 
this  providential  hour.  So  at  the  birth  of 
the  great  woman's  movement,  stood  Frances 
Willard,  destined  to  become  "  the  best  loved 
woman "  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
America. 

The  spirit  with  which  Frances  Willard 
came  to  the  leadership  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  is  clearly  il 
lustrated  in  her  first  great  "  Home  Protec 
tion  "  address.  In  the  course  of  that  elo 
quent  discussion,  she  said : 

"  The  strong-hold  of  the  rum  power  lies  in 
the  fact  that  if  ^as  upon  its  side  two  deeply 
rooted  appetites,  namely :  in  the  dealer,  the 
appetite  for  gain,  and  in  the  drinker,  the 
appetite  for  stimulants.  We  have  dolor- 


148  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ously  said  in  times  gone  by  that  on  the 
human  plane  we  have  nothing  adequate  to 
match  against  this  frightful  pair.  But  let 
us  think  more  carefully,  and  we  shall  find 
that,  as  in  nature  God  has  given  us  an 
antidote  to  every  poison,  and  in  grace  a 
compensation  for  every  loss;  so  in  human 
society,  he  has  prepared  against  alcohol, 
that  worst  foe  of  the  social  state,  an  enemy 
under  whose  weapons  it  is  to  bite  the  dust, 

"  Think  of  it !  There  is  a  class  in  every 
one  of  our  communities — in  many  of  them 
far  the  most  numerous  class — which  (I 
speak  not  vauntingly,  but  name  it  as  a  fact) 
has  not,  in  all  the  centuries  of  wine,  beer,  and 
brandy  drinking,  developed,  as  a  class,  an 
appetite  for  alcohol,  but  whose  instincts,  on 
the  contrary,  set  so  strongly  against  intoxi 
cants  that  if  the  liquor  traffic  were  depend 
ent  on  their  patronage  alone,  it  would 
collapse  this  night  as  if  all  the  nitro-gly- 
cerine  of  Hell  Gate  reef  had  exploded  under 
it. 

"  There  is  a  class  whose  instinct  of  self- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX          149 

preservation  must  forever  be  opposed  to  a 
stimulant  which  nerves  with  dangerous 
strength  arms  already  so  much  stronger 
than  their  own,  and  so  maddens  the  brain 
God  meant  to  guide  those  anus  that  they 
strike  down  the  wives  men  love,  and  the 
little  children  for  whom,  when  sober,  they 
would  die.  The  wife,  largely  dependent 
for  the  support  of  herself  and  little  ones 
upon  the  brain  which  strong-drink  par 
alyzes,  the  arm  it  masters,  and  the  skill  it 
renders  futile,  will,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
prove  herself  unfriendly  to  the  actual  or 
potential  source  of  so  much  misery.  But 
besides  this  primal  instinct  of  self-preserva 
tion,  we  have  in  the  same  class  of  which  I 
speak,  another  far  more  high  and  sacred — 
I  mean  the  instinct  of  a  mother's  love,  a 
wife's  devotion,  a  sister's  faithfulness,  a 
daughter's  loyalty.  And  now  I  ask  you  to 
consider  earnestly  the  fact  that  none  of 
these  blessed  rays  of  light  and  power  from 
woman's  heart  are  as  yet  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  rum  shop  at  the  focus  of  power. 


150          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

They  are,  I  know,  the  sweet  and  pleasant 
sunshine  of  our  homes;  they  are  the  beams 
which  light  the  larger  home  of  social  life, 
and  send  their  gentle  radiance  out  even  into 
the  great  and  busy  world. 

"  But  I  know,  and  as  the  knowledge  has 
grown  clearer,  my  heart  has  thrilled  with 
gratitude  and  hope  too  deep  for  words,  that 
in  a  republic  all  these  now  divergent  beams 
of  light  can,  through  that  magic  lens,  that 
powerful  sun-glass  which  we  name  the 
ballot,  be  made  to  converge  upon  the  rum 
shop  in  a  blaze  of  light  that  shall  reveal  its 
full  abominations,  and  a  white  flame  of  heat 
which,  like  a  pitiless  moia,  shall  burn  this 
cancerous  excrescence  from  America's  fair 
form.  Yes,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  uni 
verse  so  sure,  so  strong,  as  love;  and  love 
shall  do  all  this — the  love  of  maid  for  sweet 
heart,  wife  for  husband,  of  a  sister  for  her 
brother,  of  a  mother  for  her  son." 

Frances  Willard  was  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  persuasive  orators  that  has  ever 
appeared  among  women.  The  Rev.  Dr. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          151 

Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  himself  an  orator  of 
world-wide  repute,  pays  a  very  beautiful 
tribute  to  her  marvelous  power  on  the  plat 
form.  He  comments  on  the  fact  that  Miss 
Willard  did  not  possess  the  splendid  physi 
cal  presence  which  in  Mrs.  Livermore — a 
speaker  she  never  ceased  to  admire — has 
bent  the  bow  of  Ulysses  with  a  superb  and 
queenly  ease.  But  when  the  bow-string 
twanged,  which  her  fingers  had  touched,  an 
arrow  sped,  as  sharply  tipped,  as  finely 
feathered,  as  sure  to  hit  the  object  aimed  at, 
as  though  the  speaker  had  been  of  enormous 
frame,  and  breathed  through  a  pair  of 
organ-like  lungs.  "  Indeed,"  says  Gunsau- 
lus,  "  students  of  oratory  will  agree  that  the 
wonder  of  Miss  Willard's  physical  constitu 
tion,  as  compared  with  the  amount  of  work 
which  she  performed,  and  the  achievements 
she  wrought  as  a  public  speaker,  passed 
strangely  out  of  sight  when  she  exercised 
upon  her  audience  the  charm  of  her  mellow 
and  finely  cadenced  voice,  attuned  to  the 
strenuous  rhythm  of  her  thought  and  feel- 


152          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ing.  When  asked  if  she  were  a  very  large 
woman,  an  old  toper,  who  was  also  a  great 
lawyer,  said,  in  describing  her  speech  of  the 
night  before :  <I  should  think  her  about  eight 
feet  high,  and  weighing  about  four  hundred 
pounds  avoirdupois;  but  when  she  was 
wooing  my  heart  to  a  better  life,  I  thought 
then,  and  think  now7,  that  she  was  the 
sweetest  little  being  in  the  world.'  When 
an  audience  of  six  thousand  had  assembled 
together,  and  Miss  Willard  had  serious 
arguments  to  plead,  and  something  of  a 
prejudice  to  overcome  by  battling  for  a 
position  to  which  even  the  majority  of  her 
sisters  had  not  assented,  one  wished  she 
had  more  of  brawny  stoutness.  When  the 
harp  trembled  and  shook  with  emotion,  as 
she  spoke  of  what  she  meant  to  do  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  by  the  force  of  strength 
that  night,  we  feared  that  the  strings  might 
be  worn  away,  and  the  echoing  harmony 
be  heard  vanishingly ;  but  as  the  eye  lit  up 
with  hitherto  unseen  fire,  the  finely  mobile 
lips  moved  with  great  messages  so  easily, 


Wayne  B.  Wheeler,  Esq. 
Rev.  J.  C.  Jackson. 


Rev.  P.  A.  Baker. 
Rev.  E.  C.  Dinwiddie. 


GROUP    FROM    THE    EARLY    WORKING    FORCE    OF   THE 
ANTI-SALOON   LEAGUE. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          153 

the  chest  expanded  from  slightness  to  large 
ness  and  strength  proportionate  to  the  rich 
ness  of  the  outpouring  truth,  the  most  af 
fectionate  and  anxious  friend  felt  supreme 
confidence  in  the  strength  of  her  nerves  and 
the  boundlessness  of  her  vital  energy,  and 
nothing  seemed  able  to  tire  or  to  vanquish 
that  combination  of  powers  which  was  il 
luminated  by  the  vast  reserve  of  spiritual 
power  attending  her  progress.  To  hear  her, 
after  the  massive  speech  of  even  a  more 
ponderous  brain  to  whom  auditors  gave 
shouts  of  approval,  was  like  listening  to 
Wendell  Phillips,  calm,  yet  fiery,  alert,  yet 
serenely  sure  of  the  truth,  while  yet  the 
magnificent  excitement  and  stalwart  glory 
of  Daniel  Webster  made  the  air  tremble  and 
burn."  Henry  Ward  Beecher  declared  that 
no  woman  of  her  day  more  truly  illustrated 
the  fact  that  forcefulness  and  influence  for 
good  can  be  obtained  only  by  the  alliance  of 
a  clear  head  and  a  warm  heart  in  public 
than  did  Frances  Willard.  "  I  always  feel," 
said  he,  "  that  she  might  inundate  the  whole 


154          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

assembly  with  tears  if  she  were  not  so  wise, 
and  that  she  might  take  us  to  heights  of 
reasoning  where  we  would  all  freeze  to 
death,  if  she  were  not  so  kind.'' 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier  once  said  of 
Miss  Willard  what  was  perhaps  as  splendid 
a  characterization  as  was  ever  uttered :  "  I 
always  want  to  tell  her  <  Thee  must  know 
thee  is  great  only  as  thy  cause  makes  thee 
great.  Thee  might  be  only  a  lot  of  good 
qualities  if  they  had  not  been  fused.'  "  But 
by  the  fiat  of  God  they  were  fused  to 
white  heat,  and  they  burned  their  way  into 
the  hearts  of  the  world.  Under  her  leader 
ship  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  bound  its  bows  of  ribbon  white 
around  the  world,  printed  its  pledges  in  all 
the  tongues  spoken  by  civilized  peoples,  and 
presented  to  mankind  the  spectacle  of  the 
largest  organization  formed  by  women  since 
the  world  began,  consecrated  to  total 
abstinence  and  to  conflict  with  the  liquor 
traffic. 


FRANCIS  MURPHY  AND  HIS 
COLLEAGUES 


The  reclaiming  power  of  love  is  great; 
aye,  it  is  powerful;  yea,  it  is  most  potent.  I 
knoiv  this,  for  I  have  seen  the  most  de 
graded  taken  from  the  very  gutter.  It  pays 
to  be  kind,  it  pays  to  be  merciful.  Speak 
the  kind  icord;  perform  the  kind  act.  It 
may  be  your  passport  to  eternal  bliss. — 
FRANCIS  MURPHY. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FRANCIS    MURPHY   AND   HIS  COLLEAGUES 

FRANCIS  MURPHY  in  1873  was  in  jail 
for  illegal  liquor  selling  in  Portland, 
Maine.  While  there  Captain  Cyrus  Sturdi- 
vant,  a  man  of  faith,  asked  the  sheriff  for 
permission  to  come  and  talk  with  the  pris 
oners.  Murphy  thus  writes  of  their  first 
meeting : 

"  To  Captain  Sturdivant,  if  I  have  been  of 
any  use  in  the  world,  under  God,  I  owe  all 
of  it.  He  commenced  his  work  on  the  Sab 
bath  day.  The  great,  dark  entrance  door 
was  opened  to  the  Christian  people.  Quite 
a  number  had  collected  together,  and  they 
came  in  singing,  <  All  hail  the  power  of 
Jesus'  name ' ;  I  was  sitting  on  the  little  iron 
bedstead  in  my  cell,  when  the  keeper  came 
to  the  door,  and  looking  at  me,  said : 

"  '  Mr.  Murphy,  we  would  like  to  have 
157 


168          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

you  come  out  and  attend  religious  serv 
ices.' 

"  '  Please  excuse  me;  I  will  remain  here, 
and  not  disturb  your  people/  was  my 
prompt  reply. 

" i  Come  out;  these  people  are  your 
friends ;  they  will  not  injure  you/  persisted 
the  keeper. 

"  There  was  something  so  kind  and  agree 
able  in  the  face  of  the  man,  that  it  produced 
a  disposition  of  assent  within  me,  and 
touched  my  heart.  Yet  my  answer  was : 

"  *  I  would  sooner  stay  here.' 

"  '  Come  on,  Mr.  Murphy/  he  continued. 

"At  this,  I  concluded  I  would  go.  Oh, 
how  my  heart  had  ached  for  a  kind  word ; 
for  someone  to  say,  <  Can  I  do  anything  for 
you  ?  '  I  then  responded : 

"  '  I  will  go  out  with  you,  I  believe/ 

"  I  rose  from  my  seat,  stepped  out  of  the 

*v 

little  open  door,  walked  about  ten  paces, 
and  sat  down  with  the  rest  of  the  prisoners. 
There  was  Captain  Cyrus  Sturdivant,  His 
back  was  turned  toward  me  as  I  walked 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          159 

along  the  corridor.  When  he  turned  about, 
he  was  weeping  as  a  mother  sometimes 
weeps  for  her  child.  As  I  looked  at  his 
face,  I  asked  myself,  <  Who  is  he  weeping 
for;  has  he  lost  a  son?  '  No,  it  was  evident 
that  he  had  a  heart  for  others.  He  was 
telling  of  God's  goodness.  His  words  were 
very  sweet  to  me.  He  spoke  to  us  of  hungry 
wives  and  children.  And,  at  that  moment, 
it  seemed  I  could  see  my  poor  wife  and 
children  before  me.  As  he  continued  to 
talk,  it  semed  to  me  that  my  imagination 
never  realized  so  powerfully  as  it  did  at 
that  time,  the  presence  of  the  objects  of  my 
affections.  My  children  seemed  to  be  about 
me;  and  my  dear  wife  was  standing  in  my 
presence,  as  calm  and  patient  as  ever,  say 
ing  not  one  word.  I  queried, '  Does  anyone 
care  for  me?  I  wonder  if  there  is  a 
friendly  hand  here  to  be  extended  to  me? ' 
And  I  said  to  myself,  <  Oh,  what  would  I 
not  give  to  sit  down  with  that  man  and  tell 
him  the  sorrow  of  my  heart! '  " 

Captain  Sturdivant  followed  the  matter 


160          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

up  until  Murphy  was  happily  converted  to 
Christ,  and  with  it,  of  course,  came  his 
determination  to  cease  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  intoxicating  drinks.  He  remained 
a  prisoner  for  some  time  afterwards,  and  his 
work  as  a  reformer  began  during  his  prison 
days. 

One  day  he  conceived  a  project  of  carry 
ing  the  work  begun  in  his  own  soul,  among 
the  unconverted  men  around  him.  He  sent 
a  petition  to  the  sheriff,  asking  his  per 
mission  to  hold  a  prayer-meeting.  The 
meeting  was  held,  and  was  one  of  powerful 
influence  for  good.  In  the  course  of  a  little 
time,  he  saw  the  seventy-five  men  in  the  jail 
brought  securely  from  the  evil  of  their  lives. 
God  gave  him  every  man  in  the  jail.  Mur 
phy  took  this  as  a  sign  from  God  that  hence 
forth  he  was  to  give  himself  to  the  work  of 
rescuing  and  reforming  his  fellow-men. 
The  result  was  so  wonderful  in  the  conduct 
of  the  men  that  the  sheriff  discontinued  the 
practice  of  locking  them  up.  They  were 
put  upon  their  honor.  Contrary  to  the  pre- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX  161 

vious  custom  of  the  place,  they  were  permit 
ted  to  go  out  into  the  yard,  and  not  one  of 
them  ever  violated  his  word  to  the  keeper. 

Francis  Murphy  delivered  his  first  lec 
ture  in  the  City  Hall,  Portland,  Maine, 
April  3,  1873.  The  success  was  remarkable. 
A  great  crowd  was  present,  and  the  humor 
and  pathos  of  the  discourse  captivated  the 
audience.  That  very  evening  he  received 
over  sixty  applications  for  lectures  in  other 
cities.  He  was  already  launched  upon  his 
career.  From  Maine  he  went  to  New 
Hampshire,  and  then  to  Iowa  and  Illinois, 
and  then  to  all  the  world. 

Francis  Murphy  was  very  remarkable  for 
the  number  of  drinking  men  of  great  prom 
inence  and  influence  whom  he  won  to  sobri 
ety  through  personal  and  individual  work, 
in  addition  to  the  multitudes  who  were  per 
suaded  to  take  the  pledge  at  his  public  meet 
ings.  This  cannot  be  better  illustrated 
than  to  give  a  condensed  quotation  from 
one  of  Murphy's  speeches,  delivered  in  Co 
lumbus,  Ohio.  He  said : 


162          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

"Allow  me  to  use  an  illustration  that  I 
may  enforce  this  truth,  and  may  God  help 
me.  I  will  speak  of  a  man  you  have  had  in 
your  midst  speaking  for  you — Marshall 
Swartewalder.  He  was  a  victim  of  this 
habit  for  a  number  of  years.  He  is  a  per 
fect  gentleman  when  he  is  sober,  a  kingly 
man,  and  has  justly  been  called  the  patriarch 
of  the  Pittsburg  Bar,  and  the  Demosthenes 
of  the  profession.  Perhaps  no  man  who 
has  been  upon  the  platform  in  the  cause  of 
human  reform  has  been  equal  to  him.  When 
I  first  came  to  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  I  was 
told  about  Marshall  Swartzwalder  that  he 
had  been  a  drunkard  a  great  many  years — 
for  thirty  years  at  least — and  they  said 
there  was  no  hope  for  him.  I  said  I  would 
like  to  see  him.  '  Well,'  said  they,  '  you  can 
see  him/  but  said  that  he  had  been  on  a  tre 
mendous  spree.  I  got  the  number  of  his 
office — for  at  this  time  he  stayed  in  his  of 
fice,  and  ate  his  meals  there,  and  had  a  nice 
back  room  handsomely  furnished  where  he 
slept — I  rapped  at  his  door;  there  was  a 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  163 

young  boy,  a  son  of  his,  a  beardless  boy, 
about  sixteen  years  of  age,  that  always 
stayed  with  his  father  and  never  left  him; 
he  called  him  Dick.  Dick  came  to  the  door 
—I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  poor  boy ; 
he  looked  so  depressed  and  sad.  Said  I, '  Is 
Mr.  Swartzwalder  in?'  He  replied,  '  Yes; 
do  you  wish  to  see  him?'  He  sent  in  my 
card.  He  had  asked  what  my  name  was,  and 
stepped  in  and  told  him  that  Mr.  Murphy 
was  in  the  office  and  would  like  to  see  him. 
Said  he,  '  Send  him  in ;  I  would  like  to  see 
him/  So  I  went  to  his  room,  and  he  rose 
from  his  large  chair,  which  he  had  for  his 
own  comfort.  He  extended  his  hand,  and 
said,  '  You're  the  man  that  has  been  talking 
temperance  here?  '  i  Yes,'  said  I.  '  Well, 
said  he,  '  we  never  have  much  good  from  you 
temperance  people;  you  come  here  and  sing 
your  songs,  and  present  your  bills,  and  go 
away.  That  is  the  way  they  do,  and  I  sup 
pose  you  are  like  all  the  rest  of  them.'  I 
said,  '  I  don't  know  how  that  is.'  He  said, 
<  Mr.  Murphy,  I  want  to  talk  to  you.  I  have 


164          THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX 

been  a  victim  of  intemperance  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  I  have  no  power  to  control  my 
self.'  He  asked  me  to  be  seated  in  a  chair, 
and  I  sat  down  by  his  side.  He  looked 
strangely  in  my  face,  and  said, '  Is  there  any 
hope  for  me? '  Said  I,  i  There  is  hope  for 
you/  '  There  is? '  he  exclaimed.  '  Yes.7 
'How  so?'  Said  I,  'With  God's  help  you 
can  be  saved.'  With  a  shake  of  his  head,  he 
said,  '  Why,  for  more  than  twenty  years  I 
have  been  seeking  for  the  truth,  and  have 
read  the  Bible  through  and  through.  And,' 
said  he,  <  Mr.  Murphy,  there  is  no  help  for 
me.'  I  commenced  talking  to  him  in  my  hum 
ble  way,  the  best  I  could.  He  turned  around 
to  Colonel  Hetherington,  and  said :  i  Go  and 
tell  Dick  to  come  in.'  The  dear  boy,  when 
he  came  in,  stepped  up  to  his  father's  left 
side,  and  the  father  put  his  arms  around 
the  boy.  The  poor  boy  was  so  much  over 
come  that  he  sat  down  and  put  his  arms 
around  his  father's  neck.  The  child  could 
not  control  his  feelings,  and  commenced  to 
weep.  The  father  said :  <  Dear  Dick,  you 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          165 

never  left  me.'  Turning  to  me,  he  said: 
1  Mr.  Murphy,  here  is  a  boy  that  stays  with 
his  father ;  here  is  a  boy  that  has  walked  the 
streets  night  after  night  for  his  father,  and 
stays  with  him;  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  how 
good  he  has  been,  how  much  I  love  him/ 
Before  we  got  through  talking  to  each  other, 
Mr.  Swartzwalder  said :  '  Mr.  Murphy,  I 
feel  a  very  strange  impression  on  my  heart,  I 
feel  as  though  God  had  touched  me,  so  to 
speak.'  I  said  to  him,  with  all  the  power  of 
encouragement  that  God  had  possessed  me 
with,  <  Mr.  Swartzwalder,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  you  shall  conquer  this  evil;  I  know  it 
in  my  heart.'  I  left  him;  I  knew  the  work 
was  done ;  I  knew  it  was  a  question  of  time 
when  the  man  should  come  out  redeemed/' 
And  indeed  he  was  wonderfully  redeemed, 
and  Murphy  tells  us  that  twenty  thousand 
men  signed  the  pledge  under  the  influence 
of  that  one  man.  That  story  is  typical  of  a 
great  many  that  might  be  told  of  Francis 
Murphy. 
The  Murphy  movement  was  distinguished 


166          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

on  the  part  of  its  followers  by  the  wearing 
of  a  bit  of  blue  ribbon  in  the  button 
hole  of  the  coat,  and  so  rapidly  did  the 
movement  spread  that  the  blue  ribbon  be 
came  a  well-known  badge  from  one  ocean  to 
the  other.  The  work  in  some  cities  was 
phenomenal.  Eighty  thousand  signed  the 
Murphy  pledge  in  Pittsburg.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  signed  the  pledge  in 
Philadelphia  within  two  months,  and  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  alone  four  hun 
dred  thousand  wore  the  blue  ribbon. 

Dr.  Henry  A.  Reynolds  was  in  the  city  of 
Bangor,  Maine,  on  the  verge  of  delirium 
tremens.  In  his  despair  of  human  aid  he 
knelt  in  his  office,  and  yielded  himself  to 
God  as  his  servant,  and  swore  a  solemn  and 
sacred  oath  that  he  would  sign  the  pledge 
publicly  on  the  first  opportunity.  Two 
days  later  the  opportunity  came.  The 
Woman's  Crusade,  of  Bangor,  was  con 
ducting  a  public  meeting  in  the  City  Hall, 
and  he  went  in  to  observe  it 

The  large  audience  was  much  amazed  to 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          167 

see  him  come  in,  for  he  was  notorious  for 
his  intemperate  habits.  The  people  were 
more  amazed  when  he  pressed  his  way 
through  the  mass,  and  reached  the  pledge 
table,  where  he  deliberately  signed  his 
name.  The  audience  burst  forth  into  en 
thusiastic  cheers. 

A  little  later  he  published  notices  in  the 
different  daily  newspapers,  cordially  invit 
ing  all  drinking  men  to  meet  at  a  certain 
time  and  place.  Eleven  came  forward  at 
the  call,  and  the  Bangor  Reform  Club,  the 
very  first  of  the  kind,  was  organized  Sep 
tember  10,  1874,  adopting  as  its  motto, 
"  Dare  to  do  right."  Dr.  Reynolds  was 
elected  President.  Meetings  were  fre 
quently  held,  and  as  each  member  sought 
after  others,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
the  club  numbered  hundreds,  and  the  city 
was  shaken  and  aroused  for  God  and  hu 
manity  as  never  before.  The  movement 
went  over  the  country  like  a  flash,  creating 
great  surprise  and  great  interest.  During 
the  first  year,  reform  clubs  of  this  kind  were 


168          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

organized  throughout  the  entire  State  of 
Maine.  In  three  years  the  number  of  re 
formed  men  was  given  as  forty-six  thou 
sand. 

The  origin  of  the  red  ribbon  took  place 
some  months  after  Dr.  Reynolds'  conver 
sion.  He  had  called  a  convention  of  re 
formed  men  to  meet  in  Bangor,  Maine,  and 
while  he  was  seated  in  his  office,  he  fancied 
that  it  would  be  a  good  idea  if  the  men  had 
some  sign  or  badge  by  which  they  could 
recognize  each  other.  He  thought  for  a  long 
time,  and  finally  sent  his  office  boy  across 
the  street  to  a  dry-goods  store  for  several 
yards  of  red  ribbon.  Having  obtained  this, 
the  doctor  cut  it  up  into  six-inch  lengths, 
tied  one  in  the  lapel  of  his  coat,  and  did 
likewise  by  all  the  delegates.  Dr.  Reynolds 
was  soon  invited  to  other  States,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  it  spread  over  many  States, 
doing  a  large  amount  of  good.  Space 
fails  us  to  tell  of  P.  A.  Burdick,  Thomas 
Doutney,Lou  Beauchamp,aud  a  vast  host  of 
others  who  have  sought  through  the  temper- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  169 

ance  pledge  to  rouse  the  hope  in  the  drunk 
ard's  heart  of  a  possible  rescue,  and  to 
strengthen  the  purpose,  and  give  solidity  to 
the  will  of  the  young  and  innocent,  so  as  to 
give  them  strength  to  resist  the  temptations 
of  the  insidious  foe. 


HOWARD   H.   RUSSELL,   ORGANIZER 
OF   THE   ANTI-SALOON    LEAGUE 


With  public  sentiment  nothing  can  fail, 
without  it  nothing  can  succeed.  Conse 
quently  he  ivho  molds  public  sentiment  goes 
deeper  than  he  icho  enacts  statutes  or  pro 
nounces  decisions.  He  makes  statutes  or 
decisions  possible  or  impossible  to  be  exe 
cuted. — ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HOWARD     H.     RUSSELL,     ORGANIZER     OF     THE 
ANTI-SALOON  LEAGUE 

HOWARD  H.  RUSSELL,  the  founder 
of  the  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League,  and 
superintendent  from  the  beginning,  of  both 
State  and  National  Leagues,  and  in  whose 
fertile  brain  was  conceived  the  idea  of  The 
Lincoln  Legion,  is  of  English  ancestry. 
His  grandfather,  James  Russell,  a  skilled 
iron-worker  at  Wednesbury,  in  Stafford 
shire,  England,  brought  his  family  to  Phila 
delphia  in  1820,  and  Russell's  father  was 
born  there  in  1822.  The  grandfather,  for 
forty  years,  was  a  foreman  of  Government 
gun-makers  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia, 
and  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  Howard's 
father,  Joseph  A.  Russell,  sought  an 
education,  worked  his  own  way,  was 
graduated  at  the  Wesleyan  Academy,  at 

173 


174          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  and  the  Episco 
pal  Theological  Seminary  of  Alexandria, 
Virginia.  Howard's  mother  was  Sarah  E. 
Parker,  a  Dalton,  Massachusetts,  girl,  a 
daughter  of  the  Revolution.  The  father 
was  a  Home  Missionary  under  Bishop 
Kemper  at  Stillwater,  Minnesota,  when 
Howrard  Russell  was  born  there  on  Sunday 
morning,  October  21, 1855.  The  father's  life 
work  was  that  of  teacher  as  well  as  clergy 
man.  He  was  principal  of  the  Glens  Falls, 
New  York,  Academy,  in  the  sixties,  and  had 
charge  of  public  and  church  schools  in 
Illinois  and  Iowa  for  nearly  forty  years. 
After  a  very  useful  career,  he  still  lives  as 
Rector  Emeritus  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at 
Chariton,  Iowa. 

Howard  Russell's  boyhood  was  spent  at 
Bloomsburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  his 
mother  died  wrhen  he  was  six  years  of  age, 
and  at  Glens  Falls,  New  York,  where  the 
father  wras  married  a  second  time  to  a  noble 
woman  who  proved  to  be,  to  Howard  and  his 
two  brothers,  a  faithful  and  beloved  second 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          175 

mother,  who  still  lives  to  bless  the  father  in 
his  old  age.  Young  Russell  studied  at 
Galva,  Illinois,  and  at  Davenport,  Iowa, 
where  he  finished  preparatory  school  at 
Griswold  College  in  1872.  Four  summers 
of  this  time  were  spent  working  upon  the 
farm.  At  seventeen  years  of  age  he  was  for 
a  time  clerk  in  the  Commanding  Officer's 
office  at  Rock  Island  Arsenal,  then  his 
friend  Lieutenant  Wright  placed  him  in 
charge  of  the  construction  work  at  the 
Government  waterpower  dam  at  Moline. 
In  1874,  before  Russell  was  nineteen,  he 
crossed  the  plains  in  the  saddle,  with  a  cat 
tle  herd,  secured  a  teacher's  certificate  in 
Colorado,  and  taught  a  few  months  near 
Hughes'  Station,  now  Brighton,  Colorado, 
then  returning  to  his  father's  home  at 
Corning,  Iowa,  where  he  took  charge  of 
a  country  paper  for  a  year.  Then  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  began  the  study 
of  law  at  Corning  with  the  Hon.  Frank  M. 
Davis,  teaching  school  the  while  at  Noda- 
away,  Iowa,  to  pay  expenses.  Later  he 


176          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

worked  his  way  through  a  year  at  the  Des 
Moines  Law  School,  and  in  June,  1878,  was 
admitted  to  the  Bar  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Iowa.  In  1880,  Howard.  H.  Rus 
sell  married  Lillian  Davis,  the  daughter  of 
his  preceptor  and  partner.  She  had  al 
ready  been  for  several  years  an  inspiration 
to  his  life. 

Russell's  six  years  as  a  lawyer  were 
very  active  ones.  Mr.  Davis  received  him 
as  a  partner  as  soon  as  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and,  as  Davis  was  one  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  in  the  State,  and  had  already 
the  largest  practice  of  any  attorney  in  the 
county,  tlie  young  man  did  not  lack  for 
work.  He  took  part,  not  only  in  the  civil, 
but  in  the  criminal  practice.  Early  in  his 
experience  as  a  lawyer  he  was  employed  to 
defend  a  Corning  druggist  named  William 
Kline,  who  was  charged  with  a  murder 
which  had  been  committed  a  hundred  miles 
away,  near  Des  Moines.  Detectives  had 
conspired  for  the  sake  of  a  large  reward  to 
fasten  the  crime  upon  RusselPs  client,  who 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  177 

was  an  innocent  man.  Three  different  per 
sons  swore  that  Kline  had  confessed  the 
murder.  Others  testified  that  he  was  near 
the  scene  of  the  murder  when  he  claimed  to 
have  been  far  away.  Several  citizens  of 
Corning,  with  book  entries  of  business 
transactions  with  the  defendant,  established 
a  conclusive  alibi.  It  was  an  exciting  case. 
As  it  was  tried  at  the  State  Capital,  it  at 
tracted  wide  attention,  and,  as  Russell  won 
the  victory  single-handed  against  lawyers 
of  large  experience,  it  opened  the  way  to 
rapid  business  success.  He  also  won  many 
important  civil  cases  while  he  was  in  the 
practice.  His  last  lawsuit  was  a  civil  dam 
age  suit  against  a  liquor  dealer  on  behalf  of 
a  wife  who  had  been  injured  by  the  sale  of 
liquor  to  her  husband,  and  the  jury  gave  a 
large  verdict.  There  is  no  doubt  that  had 
Russell  remained  at  the  law,  he  would  have 
won  honor  and  large  financial  return. 

In  1882,  through  the  prayers  and  influ 
ence  of  his  devoted  wife,  he  experienced  a 
thorough  change  of  heart  motives,  and  un- 


178          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

der  the  new  impulses  then  potent  with  him, 
was  impelled  toward  the  Christian  ministry. 
This  step  was  hastened  by  a  political  defeat. 
It  had  been  the  practice  for  years  in  Adams 
County,  Iowa,  to  elect  a  young  lawyer  as 
County  Superintendent  of  Schools.  He  was 
expected  only  to  devote  a  part  of  his  time  to 
that  work.  In  1881,  Russell  was  elected  to 
that  position,  and  served  two  years.  In  the 
summer  of  1883  he  was  renominated  by  the 
Republican  County  Convention,  but  a 
fusion  of  the  Democrats  and  "  Greenback- 
ers  "  defeated  the  whole  Republican  ticket 
that  year,  and  though  he  received  more 
votes  than  any  other  candidate  of  his  party, 
he  was  still  defeated  by  a  narrow  margin. 
Russell  has  since  recognized  that  this  de 
feat  was  a  blessing  in  disguise,  for  it  speeded 
his  career  into  Christian  and  reform  work. 
In  the  autumn  of  1883  he  closed  up  his  busi 
ness,  and,  with  his  wife  and  little  daughter, 
Julia,  two  years  of  age,  went  to  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  and  began  his  college  and  seminary 
studies  January  1, 1884.  In  1886  he  won  the 


PHOTO    BY    BAKER.    COLUMBUS,    OHIO,    1893. 

HOWARD    H.    RUSSEI.L, 
Organizer  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          179 

oratorical  contest  at  Oberlin  on  the  subject 
of  "  Mob  and  Law,"  and  represented  Ober 
lin  at  the  State  contest,  winning  the  first 
place  there.  At  the  Interstate  Contest  at 
Lawrence,  Kansas,  he  represented  Ohio,  and 
was  awarded  the  second  prize.  In  June, 
1888,  he  had  nearly  finished  his  college 
course,  had  completed  his  seminary  course, 
and  was  graduated  from  the  theological  de 
partment.  In  1894  he  was  honored  with  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  by  Oberlin  College, 
and  in  1897  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Ohio  Wes- 
leyan  University. 

During  his  student  days  at  Oberlin,  Rus 
sell  had  been  preaching  all  the  while,  and 
had  been  successful  in  bringing  about  re 
vivals  in  religion  in  North  and  South  Arn- 
herst.  On  his  graduation  he  moved  at  once 
to  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  to  take  up  work 
under  the  Congregational  City  Missionary 
Society. 

Russell  began  his  ministry  in  Kansas 
City  in  a  huge  tent,  which  he  set  up  upon 


180          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

vacant  lots  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  city. 
He  published  a  paper,  The  Southwest  Work 
man,  and  distributed  large  editions  among 
the  homes.  By  thorough  advertising  and 
private  canvass  from  house  to  house  and 
heart-winning  sermons,  he  gathered  great 
congregations  which  he  took  into  a  large 
hall  nearby  when  the  cold  weather  came. 
The  Sunday-school  grew  until  it  enrolled 
five  hundred.  A  temperance  society  and 
young  people's  society,  a  boys'  battalion 
of  two  companies,  were  organized,  and  then 
a  church.  A  commodious  building  was 
erected,  and  in  two  and  a  half  years  the 
church  came  to  be  self-supporting.  A  re 
vival  added  over  one  hundred  members 
one  winter. 

During  the  summer  months  each  year 
Russell  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  of  which  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  Hopkins  was  pastor.  The 
second  summer  he  preached  a  series  of  dis 
courses  upon  the  general  topic  of  "  A  Law 
yer's  Examination  of  the  Bible."  A  special 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  181 

invitation  was  sent  by  the  officers  of  the 
church  to  lawyers  and  their  families.  There 
was  a  large  attendance  of  men  of  that  pro 
fession,  and  a  high  degree  of  interest  mani 
fested.  Lengthy  reports  of  the  addresses 
were  printed  in  the  Kansas  City  papers,  and 
he  received  letters  from  five  lawyers  residing 
in  towns  of  Kansas  and  Missouri  who  were 
led  to  unite  with  the  Church  from  reading 
those  reports.  One  hundred  business  men 
in  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  signed  a  request  for 
the  delivery  of  these  addresses,  and  pre 
sented  Russell  with  a  generous  purse  at  the 
closing  service.  This  series  of  discourses 
was  printed  in  a  handsome  volume  by  the 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  and  has 
reached  a  fourth  edition.  While  in  Kansas 
City,  in  1889,  Ernest  Clement,  a  son,  was 
born  to  the  Russells. 

In  November,  1890,  Philip  Armour  sent 
a  committee  to  visit  the  Southwest  Taber 
nacle,  and  soon  a  call  came  to  Russell  to  the 
pastorate  of  the  Armour  Mission  in  Chicago, 
and  as  that  promised  a  wider  opportunity 


182          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

far  effective  work,  he  began  service  there  in 
February,  1891.  Here  was  room  for  work, 
indeed!  The  Sunday-school  enrolled  over 
two  thousand  members,  and  the  Mission, 
through  its  kindergarten,  free  dispensary, 
and  other  helpful  agencies,  touched  in  vari 
ous  ways  a  parish  of  four  or  five  thousand 
people.  Russell's  pastoral  work  there,  while 
burdensome,  was  very  delightful.  He  or 
ganized,  while  there,  a  brotherhood  for  the 
young  men,  a  sisterhood  for  the  young 
women,  and  a  battalion  for  the  boys.  There 
were  five  companies  of  boys,  over  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  in  line,  and,  with  their  blue 
uniforms  and  guns,  they  presented  a  fine  ap 
pearance.  Best  of  all,  they  were  induced, 
most  of  them,  to  become  soldiers  of  Christ. 
More  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  in  a 
single  winter  intelligentfy  enlisted  in  Chris 
tian  service.  W.  C.  Johnson,  a  faithful 
Christian  worker,  who  had  drilled  Russell's 
boy  battalion  in  Kansas  City,  came  at  his 
call,  to  Chicago,  and  was  his  stenographer 
and  assistant  pastor.  The  remarkable  fea- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  183 

ture  of  the  case  was,  that  these  boys  them 
selves  cheerfully  paid  the  assistant's  salary. 

During  RusselFs  pastorate  at  the  Armour 
Mission,  his  sorrow  and  indignation  were 
constantly  stirred  by  the  evils  of  the  liquor 
habit  and  traffic,  and  it  was  here  that  the 
National  Anti-Saloon  League  gained  its 
great  reserve  of  power. 

In  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire, 
looking  down  upon  beautiful  "  Grafton 
Water,"  where  Russell  and  the  writer  of  this 
volume  are  summer  neighbors  and  friends, 
I  inquired  of  him  how  he  came  to  take  up  the 
An ti- Saloon  League  work  at  so  large  a  cost 
in  personal  sacrifice,  both  for  himself  and 
for  his  family,  also  expressing  wonder  that 
I  had  never  seen  anything  in  print  concern 
ing  it.  Thus  urged,  he  told  me  this  story : 

"  While  convalescing  from  a  long  illness 
at  the  Armour  Mission,  in  the  fall  of  1892,  it 
came  to  me  vividly  that  I  ought  to  take  up 
the  marshaling  of  the  church  forces  of  the 
country  to  do  active  and  permanent  service 
against  the  saloon.  I  had  long  believed  it 


184          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ought  to  be  done,  and  I  had  tried  to  induce 
others  to  take  it  up.  I  had  even  offered  to 
contribute  $100  per  year  out  of  my  salary,  if 
a  friend  would  take  the  lead  in  the  work. 
Mary  Lyon  once  said :  '  If  there  is  work 
which  needs  the  doing,  and  no  one  else  will 
do  it,  and  I  can  do  it,  that  is  my  work.'  Now, 
it  seemed  to  come  to  me  that  this  work 
which  so  much  needed  the  doing,  and  which  I 
had  several  times  sought  to  lay  upon  others, 
was  the  very  work  I  ought  to  set  in  upon.  I 
shrank  from  it  still.  I  had  been  blessed  in 
my  pastoral  work.  It  would  break  up  the 
home  life.  Would  the  people  of  the  churches 
support  the  many  workers  needed  to  do  an 
effective  work,  and  the  other  necessary  ex 
penses?  As  at  other  times  in  my  life,  God 
at  last  made  it  clear  that  I  was  no  longer  to 
hesitate  or  shrink  from  it.  Happily  the 
path  of  duty  seemed  plain  to  Mrs.  Russell 
also,  and  then  I  set  about  finding  where  I 
was  to  begin  the  task.  It  was  reported  that 
citizens  of  Indiana  were  looking  for  a  man 
to  lead  their  temperance  work,  and  I  went 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  185 

to  Indianapolis,  but  found  that  they  were 
not  ready  to  take  up  the  lines  of  work  I  had 
in  mind,  so  I  turned  again  to  my  Oberlin 
friends.  They  were  at  first  reluctant  to  as 
sume  responsibility  in  the  matter,  but  after 
deliberation  and  prayer,  and  several  con 
ferences  with  the  pastors  and  other  leaders, 
in  the  spring  of  1893,  they  consented  to 
adopt  my  ideas  and  plans,  and  to  help  as 
much  as  they  could  to  start  the  work  and  to 
give  it  their  permanent  assistance.  The  pub 
lic  beginning  was  made  at  a  Union  Meeting 
at  the  First  Congregational  Church  at  Ober 
lin,  on  Sunday  evening,  June  4,  1893. 

"  My  life  the  past  ten  years  has  been 
entirely  absorbed  with  the  life  and  growth 
of  the  Anti-Saloon  League.  In  September, 
1893,  my  family  came  from  Chicago,  and  we 
rented  a  small  house  at  $10  per  month  in 
the  northern  part  of  Columbus.  Knowing 
the  financial  difficulties  sure  to  be  encoun 
tered,  Mrs.  Russell  dismissed  her  maid  and 
bravely  did  all  the  housework  herself.  The 
home  sacrifices  and  burdens  connected  with 


186          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  initiation  of  this  League  work  were  more 
than  will  ever  be  known.  When  anyone 
gives  me  flowers  because  of  my  work  as  a 
temperance  leader,  I  present  them  all  to  my 
dear  wife,  who,  no  less  surely  because  out 
of  public  view,  has  furnished  the  inspira 
tion  and  put  up  the  prayers,  and  given  the 
personal  sacrifices  and  toil  which  supplied 
our  partnership  in  service  its  best  essentials 
for  success.  Let  us  never  forget  the  costly 
part  womanhood  pays  in  the  advancement  of 
this  reform.  As  the  lady  bravely  buckled  on 
the  armor  of  her  knight  and  cheered  him  on 
to  the  battle  even  when  her  heart  was  break 
ing,  so  the  heroic  comrade  of  my  home  has 
cheered  me  forth  to  the  conflicts  of  the  last 
decade,  and  has  never  wavered  in  her  faith 
and  loyalty  to  the  duties  which  attended  or 
grew  out  of  the  commission.  Several  hun 
dred  dollars  of  her  patrimony  were  freely 
spent  in  the  early  years  of  our  struggle  to 
hold  a  footing  for  the  League,  during  the 
hard  times  the  whole  nation  saw,  from  1893 
to  1896.  The  children,  too,  have  had  their 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  187 

part  in  the  sacrifices  of  this  reform  work. 
How  often  the  tears  of  parting  have  fallen 
as  the  father  went  forth  for  his  long  ab 
sences.  When  Ernest  was  six  years  old, 
he  said  to  me  sadly  one  day,  at  Columbus : 
'  Papa,  why  do  you  go  away  so  far  to  fight 
saloons?  There  are  some  right  up  here  on 
the  street.  You  can  stay  home  with  us  and 
fight  them  ! >  " 

Three  years  the  Russells  lived  in  Colum 
bus,  and  nearly  six  in  Delaware,  Ohio,  and 
then,  for  the  sake  of  the  daughter's  post 
graduate  study,  their  residence  was  for 
nearly  two  years  in  Boston,  and  they  re 
moved  to  New  York  City  in  June,  1903. 

Professor  W.  F.  Whitlock,  D.  D.,  of  Dela 
ware,  Ohio,  an  old  neighbor  and  friend  of 
Howard  RusselPs,  in  a  keen  analysis  of  his 
character  and  personality,  in  connection 
with  the  great  work  which  he  has  done  for 
the  temperance  movement,  gives  it  as  his 
judgment  that  as  a  reformer  he  is  particu 
larly  gifted  in  the  following  elements  : 

"  First,  in  organizing  ability.     Given  a 


188          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

problem  to  solve  his  mind  readily  suggests  a 
solution.  When  a  campaign  is  to  be  made, 
he  quickly  conceives  the  plan.  He  is  apt  in 
collecting  and  combining  the  forces.  He 
knows  at  once  the  point  of  attack,  and  con 
centrates  everything  upon  it.  The  two 
things  the  temperance  reform  has  lacked, 
organization  and  concentration,  he  happily 
commands.  S3^stem,  compactness,  combina 
tion,  concentration,  are  not  sacrificed  by  him 
to  mere  sentiment  or  theory.  He  grasps  not 
only  the  end,  but  the  means  that  will  reach 
it.  His  unfaltering  faith  is  not  a  substitute 
for  work,  but  is  revealed  and  realized  in  his 
works. 

"  A  second  element  is  contained  in  his 
practical  and  workable  methods.  They  are 
such  as  commend  themselves  to  reason  and 
sound  judgment  by  the  manifest  adaptation 
of  means  to  ends.  He  is  never  without  a 
theory,  but  he  is  not  a  mere  theorist.  He  is 
broad  enough  to  face  conditions  as  they  are, 
without  growing  impatient  because  they  are 
not  as  they  ought  to  be.  His  methods  are 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  189 

determined  upon  in  the  light  of  two  consid 
erations  :  they  must  be  honorable,  authorized 
by  worthy  features  only,  and  then  adapted 
to  the  work  attempted.  His  own  self-reliant 
convictions  happily  harmonize  with  sug 
gestions  resulting  from  deliberations  and 
counsels.  The  inherent  force  of  his  proposed 
plans  and  methods  assures  the  friends  and 
alarms  the  foes  of  the  cause  he  advocates. 

"  A  third  element  is  his  faith  in  ultimate 
success.  He  is  a  continual  inspiration  to 
those  associated  in  effort  with  him.  He  is 
sure  that  his  work  is  one  that  ought  to  be 
done,  and  therefore  can  be.  He  never  meas 
ures  the  promise  of  success  or  failure  by  the 
number  and  force  of  the  foe,  but  by  the  faith 
and  aggressive  effort  of  professed  friends. 
He  spends  no  time  in  complaining  of  the 
past,  but  is  eager  to  realize  the  possibilities 
of  the  present.  He  is  not  a  critic,  much  less 
a  faultfinder.  He  gladly  recognizes  the  good 
that  has  been  done,  and  makes  it  the  basis  of 
greater  achievements.  He  is  not  a  pessimist, 
refusing  to  see  the  service  others  have  ren- 


190          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

dered ;  not  a  visionary  optimist,  anticipating 
success  without  a  struggle,  but  a  knight  of 
cool  judgment  and  steady  nerve,  ready  for 
the  fray,  and  confident  of  the  outcome. 

"  A  fourth  element  is  the  moral  and  re 
ligious  power  put  into  the  reform.  He  is 
fully  conscious  that  the  work  is  of  the  Mas 
ter,  and  must  be  done  in  His  name.  The 
churches,  the  Sunday-schools,  the  young  peo 
ple's  organizations,  and  all  Christian  asso 
ciations  and  leagues  are  enlisted.  The  Bible 
is  the  guidebook,  and  Christians  are  the  dis 
ciplined  forces  that  must  bring  light  and  vic 
tory.  His  own  earnest  and  eloquent  appeals 
are  first  of  all  to  religious  people.  His  belief 
that  his  mission  is  divinely  given,  and  the 
burdensome  yearning  of  his  spirit  pleading 
in  behalf  of  the  wayward  and  unfortunate, 
give  a  strange  sacredness  to  the  cause  he  rep 
resents.  He  is  a  man  of  one  work,  and  his 
consecration  seems  complete.  The  man,  the 
Christian,  the  lawyer,  the  minister,  the 
author,  his  talents  and  acquisitions,  his 
voice  and  pen,  all  that  he  is  and  has,  are  ab- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          191 

sorbed  in  his  divinely  appointed  work.  May 
the  mightiness  of  his  mission,  his  giant  ef 
forts,  fervent  faith,  unflagging  zeal,  and 
earnest  supplications  be  crowned  with  the 
'  unity,  persistency,  and  victory  >  of  the  hosts 
he  leads!" 

In  addition  to  this  excellent  analysis  by 
Dr.  Whitlock,  to  which  I  am  ready  heartily 
to  subscribe,  I  wish  to  call  attention  to 
another  characteristic,  not  always  found  in 
the  reformer,  but  of  the  greatest  possible 
value  as  a  factor  for  practical  work,  and, 
that  is,  a  well-balanced,  sunny  spirit,  a  sweet 
ness  of  temper,  a  genuine  loveableness  of 
character  which  not  only  inspires  respect 
and  admiration,  but  which  draws  men  to 
him  in  the  bonds  of  sympathy  and  love.  This 
is  Howard  H.  Russell,  whose  name  will  be 
forever  associated  with  the  birth  and  devel 
opment  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League  move 
ment,  and  whose  head  and  heart  are  respon* 
sible  for  The  Lincoln  Legion.  He  is  of  his 
own  age  and  time,  a  Reformer  of  the  Twen 
tieth  Century.  The  same  old  enthusiasm, 


192  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

and  fire,  and  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  but  with 
characteristics  modified  to  fit  him  to  the  new 
age  in  which  his  work  is  to  be  done.  A  well- 
balanced,  thoroughly  consecrated,  devoted 
man,  frank,  genuine,  whole-hearted,  rever 
encing  God,  loving  humanity,  this  is  How 
ard  H.  Russell.  God  give  strength  to  his 
arm,  eloquence  to  his  tongue,  and  patience 
to  his  heart  for  still  mightier  triumphs. 


THE    ANTI-SALOON    LEAGUE 


The  temperance  reform  is  not  a  weary 
journey  to  reach  a  destination.  It  is  world 
wide  conflict  against  icoe-working  sin,  and 
many  splendid  triumphs  are  already  won. 
Let  no  man  be  discouraged.  Trust  thou  in 
God,  for  we  shall  join  yet  more  and  more  in 
jubilant  praise,  for  His  mighty  salvation 
from  the  Satanic  power  of  strong  drink. — 
HOWARD  H.  RUSSELL. 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    ANTI-SALOON    LEAGUE 

A  LL  great  movements  have  gathered 
~£^-  about  some  distinct  and  typical  per 
sonality.  Emerson  tells  us  that  every  great 
institution  is  but  the  lengthening  shadow  of 
a  man.  Mahomet  stands  for  Mohammed- 
ism,  Martin  Luther  for  the  Reformation, 
George  Washington  for  the  American  Revo 
lution,  John  Wesley  for  Methodism.  When 
a  great  task  is  to  be  wrought  out,  God  lays 
the  burden  of  it  upon  some  man's  heart,  and 
by  inheritance  and  environment,  as  well  as 
by  discipline  and  culture,  fits  him  for  his 
work,  and  drives  him  forward  by  a  divine 
impulse  until  it  is  accomplished. 

The  Anti-Saloon  League,  like  every  other 
institution  that  has  been  a  force  for  good  in 
the  world,  has  been  a  growth,  and  has  re 
ceived  into  its  life  great  personal  sacrifice 

195 


196          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

and  service  upon  the  part  of  many  devoted 
people.  While  others  deserve  credit  for 
valuable  assistance  and  unselfish  service, 
without  which  the  results  would  have  been 
impossible,  it  still  remains  true  that  one 
man  conceived  the  plan  of  the  organization, 
as  it  has  finally  crystallized  into  a  working 
engine,  without  material  change  from  the 
"  pattern  in  the  Mount."  He  saw  the 
visions  and  dreamed  the  dreams.  By  faith 
he  foresaw  the  coming  constituency,  the 
methods  of  work,  and  the  sure  victories  of 
the  movement.  He  was  the  first  missionary 
in  the  new  crusade  utterly  to  put  himself, 
and  all  he  had,  into  it.  He  aroused  the 
needed  faith  in  others,  raised  the  sinews  of 
war,  enlisted  other  leaders,  mobilized  the 
army,  and  conducted  such  victorious  cam 
paigns  as  have  already  won  the  respect  of 
political  powers,  the  fear  of  saloon-keepers 
and  their  allies,  the  rapidly  growing  sup 
port  of  all  moral  agencies,  and  made  the 
organization  a  permanent  factor  in  this 
"  noblest  conflict  of  the  New  Century.'* 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          197 

Howard  H.  Russell,  from  early  boyhood 
had  distinct  impressions  of  the  evil  of  the 
drink  habit  and  traffic.  While  yet  a  lad 
he  saw  near  and  dear  relatives  brought 
to  a  premature  death  through  strong  drink. 
It  became  evident  to  him  that  for  several 
generations  this  habit  had  been  a  family 
weakness.  When  visiting  recently  in  Staf 
fordshire,  England,  Russell  found  that  at 
least  fourteen  relatives  not  far  removed, 
bright  young  men,  several  of  them  trained 
in  the  English  universities,  had  all  died 
before  reaching  forty  years  of  age,  and  that 
the  drink  habit  was  the  assassin  in  every 
case.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  subject  was 
always  in  his  mind  as  of  pressing  impor 
tance. 

When  a  young  lawyer  in  Iowa,  his  firm 
were  employed  by  a  local  temperance  or 
ganization  to  prosecute  lawless  saloon 
keepers,  and  to  Russell  was  assigned  the 
prosecution  of  the  cases.  He  thus  learned 
the  perjury  and  anarchy  characterizing 
such  traffickers.  He  was  often  called  upon 


198          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

for  temperance  addresses,  and  in  1883  he 
devoted  a  month  to  the  State  Campaign  for 
a  Prohibitory  Amendment  to  the  Iowa  Con 
stitution. 

During  his  collegiate  course  at  Oberlin 
from  1884  to  1888,  he  was  repeatedly 
sent  as  a  delegate  to  represent  the 
college  at  temperance  conferences  and 
conventions.  While  a  student,  in  1885, 
he  led  in  the  Murphy  movement  at 
North  Amherst  and  South  Amherst,  Ohio, 
and  again  while  still  a  seminarian  at  Ober 
lin,  but  residing  at  Berea,  Ohio,  and  pastor 
of  the  Berea  Congregational  Church,  he 
organized  a  local  movement  which  closed 
eight  saloons,  and  they  have  remained 
closed  ever  since.  A  vicious  physical  as 
sault  upon  him  on  the  street,  by  a  saloon 
keeper,  helped  to  carry  the  election  by  six 
majority. 

When  the  saloon-keepers,  thus  legally 
forced  out  of  trade  by  the  village  ordinance, 
continued  to  sell  liquor  in  violation  of  law, 
he  secured  abundance  of  evidence  and  began 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  199 

the  prosecutions,  conducted  the  trials  him 
self  in  the  Mayor's  Court,  and  secured  such 
heavy  penalties  against  the  law-breakers 
that  they  were  compelled  to  obey  the  law. 
When  he  left  Berea  to  go  to  Kansas  City  in 
1888,  the  citizens  generally  gave  a  Fare 
well  Reception  and  a  written  testimonial 
with  numerous  signatures  in  recognition  of 
his  services  in  the  temperance  cause  while 
a  citizen  of  Berea, 

In  December,  1887,  the  Oberlin  Temper 
ance  Alliance  requested  Mr.  Russell  to 
take  charge  of  a  movement  to  secure  a 
needed  law  from  the  legislature.  They 
offered  to  furnish  |300  in  money  toward 
expenses,  and  to  supply  his  Berea  pulpit 
when  it  was  necessary  to  be  absent  there 
from.  He  opened  a  headquarters  at  Colum 
bus.  By  working  through  the  pastors  and 
churches  a  temporary  "  Local  Option 
League,"  as  it  was  called,  was  formed 
throughout  the  State  and  petitions  were  cir 
culated  in  every  county  for  the  passage  of 
the  Township  Local  Option  Bill.  Pre- 


200          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

yiously,  in  1886,  the  legislature  in  the  enact 
ment  of  the  Dow  Law  had  given  the  councils 
of  the  various  municipalities  in  the  State 
the  power  to  regulate  or  prohibit  the  sale  of 
liquors  as  beverages.  It  was  under  that 
provision  that  the  Berea  saloons  were  closed. 
In  many  localities  when  the  village  council 
closed  the  saloons  they  opened  again  for 
business  in  the  township  just  outside  the 
line.  The  enactment  of  the  township  local 
option  law  was  planned  so  as  to  enable  the 
farmers  to  protect  the  township  from  the 
saloon  and  incidentally  to  protect  the  vil 
lage  or  tfity  voting  out  the  saloons.  Under 
the  pressure  of  the  people  stirred  up  by  the 
Local  Option  League,  the  bill  was  pushed 
through  the  house  by  a  small  majority  and 
went  over  to  the  senate.  Here  a  poll  of  the 
senate  made  by  Senator  Park  Alexander  of 
Akron,  who  was  an  earnest  friend  of  the 
bill,  showed  a  bare  majority  of  one  in  its 
favor.  On  a  certain  Wednesday  morning 
the  bill  was  to  come  to  a  vote.  On  Monday 
morning,  two  days  before,  Senator  Crook  of 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          201 

Dayton  went  to  Senator  Alexander  and  said 
that  three  committees  of  the  brewers,  dis 
tillers,  and  saloon-keepers  of  Dayton  had 
called  upon  him  the  previous  day  and  he  felt 
that  he  must  withdraw  his  promise  to  vote 
for  the  bill.  Monday  afternoon  Mr.  Russell 
went  to  Dayton,  and  through  friends  of  the 
measure,  secured  the  writing  on  Tuesday  of 
many  personal  letters  to  Senator  Crook.  On 
Wednesday  morning  several  telegrams  were 
sent  him  and  when  the  bill  came  up  he  voted 
for  it  and  it  was  passed  by  a  majority  of  one 
vote.  Senator  Alexander  remarked  after 
ward  to  Mr.  Russell  that  the  old  prophecy  of 
Isaiah  had  now  been  fulfilled :  "  The  rough 
places  shall  be  made  pkiin,  and  the  crooked 
places  shall  be  made  straight " !  This  town 
ship  law,  still  an  effective  temperance 
measure  in  Ohio,  was  the  entering  wedge  for 
local  option  laws  in  that  State.  By  its  use 
over  300  townships  are  kept  free  from 
saloons.  This  four-months'  legislative  ex 
perience  led  Mr.  Russell  to  believe  that  a 
permanent  organization  of  the  temperance 


202         THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

forces  of  the  churches  might  make  gradual 
and  more  rapid  headway  than  hitherto  in 
obtaining  anti-saloon  legislation.  In  mak 
ing  his  final  report  to  the  Oberlin  Temper 
ance  Alliance  in  April,  1888,  Mr.  Russell 
urged  that  the  temporary  organization  be 
made  permanent  and  that  a  salaried  superin 
tendent  be  employed  to  take  charge  of  the 
work.  A  county  organization  was  after 
ward  formed  in  Lorain  County  and  there 
the  matter  rested. 

While  pastor  of  the  Southwest  Tabernacle 
in  Kansas  City  in  1890,  Mr.  Russell  sent 
circular  letters  to  the  pastors  throughout 
Missouri  asking  their  opinion  upon  the  sub 
ject,  and  as  the  result  a  largely  attended 
convention  was  called,  and  held  at  Pertle 
Springs,  Missouri,  in  July,  1890,  and  a  con 
stitution  was  adopted  providing  for  work 
in  the  lines  of  agitation,  law  enforcement, 
and  legislation  by  a  State  organization 
named  the  Missouri  Anti-Liquor  League. 
Mr.  Russell  was  elected  the  President  for 
the  first  year,  and  he  gave  his  whole  two 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          203 

months'  vacation  without  charge  to  the 
League,  presenting  the  work  at  various 
points  in  the  State.  The  first  fifty  dollars  ex 
pended  in  printing  and  postage  in  working 
up  the  State  convention  in  Missouri  were 
furnished  by  members  of  the  Oberlin  Tem 
perance  Alliance.  Mr.  W.  J.  Reese  was  ap 
pointed  organizer,  and  with  a  stereopticon 
which  Mr.  Russell  furnished  him,  he  went 
out  and  organized  leagues,  some  of  which 
still  continue  their  work.  The  State  League 
temporarily  ceased  its  work  when  Mr.  Rus 
sell  was  called  early  in  1891  to  take  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Armour  Mission  in  Chicago. 
In  1892  Mr.  Russell  was  invited  to  deliver 
a  temperance  address  at  Oberlin,  and  he 
again  advocated  the  forming  of  a  per 
manent  State  organization  in  Ohio,  and 
tried  to  induce  certain  men  to  take  charge 
of  the  work,  but  nothing  was  done.  His 
pastoral  work  in  Chicago  brought  before 
him  many  tragedies  resulting  from  the 
drink.  Standing  upon  a  box  at  an  under 
taker's  door,  he  conducted  the  funeral  of  a 


204         THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

suicide  through  drink ;  the  drunkard's  home 
had  gone  and  his  weeping  family  sat  within 
the  door.  Again  it  was  the  "  .only  son  of  his 
mother,  and  she  a  widow,"  who  had  been 
wounded  in  a  saloon  brawl  on  Sunday  and 
afterward  died  in  the  hospital.  In  another 
case  it  was  the  mother  with  seven  sorrowing 
children  who  had  died  in  childbirth  after 
being  brutally  struck  by  her  drunken  hus 
band.  The  doctor  gave  the  man  money  to 
buy  medicine  for  the  wife  and  he  bought 
whisky  for  himself,  and  on  the  day  of  the 
funeral  lay  drunk  on  the  floor  of  the  back 
room.  Again  it  was  a  child  driven  forth  by 
a  drunken  father  to  freeze  to  death. 

In  the  fall  of  1892,  Mr.  Russell  talked 
privately  with  some  of  the  Oberlin  citizens 
again  about  the  need  of  State  organization 
in  Ohio.  They  said," If  you  will  take  charge 
of  it,  it  might  be  made  a  success."  There 
was  a  natural  hesitation  upon  his  part  to 
leave  the  regular  line  of  church  work  in 
which  he  was  blessed,  to  be  absent  most  of 
the  time  from  his  family.  The  question  of 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          205 

support  was  utterly  untried  and  uncertain. 
At  the  time  of  indecision  a  new  tragedy 
stirred  his  heart.  He  was  called  as  minister 
to  a  home  where  a  drunken  mother  lay  dead. 
The  father  was  intoxicated,  as  were  also  the 
undertaker's  driver  and  some  neighbor 
women.  The  little  boy  of  eight  years  and  his 
little  sister  of  three — worse  than  orphans 
— were  the  only  unpolluted  objects  in  the 
desolate  room.  "  Do  you  know  what  caused 
your  mother's  death?"  he  asked.  "I  do. 
It  was  drink,"  said  the  weeping  boy.  "  Are 
you  going  to  drink?"  "I'll  never  touch 
it !  "  He  pledged  the  boy,  whose  clinched 
hand  he  raised,  never  to  drink  that  which 
took  his  mother's  life,  and  to  teach  his  sister 
to  do  likewise.  The  next  morning  when  he 
called,  the  house  was  vacant,  and  that  home 
like  so  many  others  was  broken  up  by  rum ! 
It  was  there  and  then  he  settled  the  ques 
tion  of  his  future  work  as  a  reformer.  He 
said  to  himself,  "  I  will  go  out  to  my 
brethren  of  the  churches  and  demand  that 
they  become  responsible  for  an  organized 


206          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

activity  that  shall  hasten  the  day  when  that 
kind  of  tragedies  shall  be  done  away." 
There  were  two  or  three  conferences  at 
Oberlin  between  January  and  May,  1893, 
and  at  Mr.  Russell's  request  the  Oberlin 
Temperance  Alliance,  at  a  meeting  held  in 
the  College  Library  on  May  24,  1893,  for 
mally  voted  to  initiate  and  to  stand 
officially  behind  the  movement  until  it 
should  be  thought  best  to  expand  the  work 
into  a  State  organization.  It  was  voted  at 
that  meeting  that  accounts  sJiould  be 
kept  and  money  received  and  paid  by  the 
Oberlin  organization  for  the  present,, 
and  Mr.  Russell  was  employed  as  Superin 
tendent  upon  a  definite  salary  to  introduce 
the  movement  to  the  people  of  the  State, 
and  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  organize  and 
federate  the  churches  into  a  league  against 
the  saloons  according  to  plans  he  had  out 
lined  to  the  Alliance. 

As  had  been  voted  at  the  Alliance  meet 
ing  on  May  24,  the  formal  public  begin 
ning  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League  was  made 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          207 

the  first  Sunday  evening  in  June — June  4, 
1893 — at  a  Union  meeting  of  all  the 
churches  in  the  old  First  Church,  Oberlin. 
Rev.  Dr.  James  Brand,  the  pastor,  at  the 
opening  of  the  service  said  among  other 
things  that  he  believed  this  would 
prove  to  be  one  of  the  great  historic 
meetings  in  that  church.  He  spoke  of  two 
such  meetings  already  held.  One,  the  In 
dignation  Meeting  with  reference  to  the 
fugitive  slave  held  by  his  captors  in  Well 
ington,  which  resulted  in  the  rescuing  party 
being  sent  from  Oberlin  to  take  him  from 
them.  Another  when  the  two  companies 
were  recruited  from  faculty  and  students 
for  the  Civil  War. 

Dr.  Brand  said  he  believed  a  move 
ment  was  to  be  advocated,  and  begun 
that  night,  which  would  be  far-reaching  in 
its  influence  against  a  most  stupendous  and 
satanic  evil  in  the  State  and  nation.  He 
believed,  he  said,  that  in  Mr.  Russell  they 
saw  and  were  to  hear  "  a  man  sent  from 
God"  for  a  definite  work,  who  was  now 


208          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

about  to  set  in  upon  his  Heaven-ordained 
task.  He  called  upon  all  to  both  hear  and 
then  act  with  reference  to  the  important 
plans  to  be  presented.  Professor  G.  W. 
Shurtleff  introduced  Mr.  Russell.  He  re 
ferred  to  the  important  work  Mr.  Russell 
had  already  done  for  the  people  of  Ohio  in 
managing  the  campaign  in  1888,  which  had 
secured  the  enactment  of  the  Township 
Local  Option  Law.  He  expressed  his  con 
fident  belief  that  with  the  wise  and  timely 
plans  which  Mr.  Russell  had  presented  to 
the  Alliance  and  was  now  about  to  advocate 
to  the  people,  it  would  be  possible  under  his 
leadership  to  develop  a  permanent  and 
powerful  organization  aganst  the  liquor 
traffic  in  Ohio.  It  was  a  wonderful  meet 
ing.  The  church  was  filled  to  overflowing; 
students  in  the  great  galleries  and  earnest 
and  attentive  listeners  in  all  parts  of  the 
house. 

Mr.  Russell,  in  his  speech  that  night, 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  saloons 
were  increasing  three  times  as  fast  as  the 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          209 

population,  and  showed  the  need  of  a  more 
powerful  organization  than  then  existed  in 
Ohio  to  antagonize  the  liquor  traffic.  He 
insisted  that  the  churches  ought  to  become 
responsible  for  a  vigorous  and  permanent 
anti-liquor  league.  He  advocated  an  omni- 
partisan  and  interdenominational  federa 
tion,  which  should  overcome  the  apathy, 
cowardice,  and  discord  then  existing  among 
temperance  people,  and  under  the  leader 
ship  of  at  least  ten  competent  men, 
employed  as  experts,  to  devote  their  whole 
time  to  the  work  should  carry  forward 
a  permanent  campaign  on  four  distinct 
lines:  first,  Agitation;  second,  Legislation, 
third,  Law  Enforcement;  and,  fourth,  An 
Organization  of  the  Boys.  At  the  close  of 
his  speech  he  appealed  for  liberal  subscrip 
tions  to  support  the  movement.  Printed 
three-year  pledges  were  circulated  and  the 
aggregate  sum  pledged  was  over  |600  per 
year  for  three  years  or  nearly  two  thousand 
dollars.  A  private  canvass  soon  increased 
the  subscription  to  three  thousand  dollars, 


210          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Oberlin, 
that  grand  old  reform  center,  with  no 
saloons,  and  the  law  well  enforced,  has 
given  about  one  thousand  dollars  per  year 
during  the  past  ten  years  through  the 
treasury  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League,  to  do 
missionary  work  for  Ohio  and  the  country 
in  the  cause  of  temperance. 

The  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League  was  born 
that  Sunday  night  in  the  church  in  Oberlin. 
It  soon  spread  over  the  State  and  the  bold 
prediction  of  its  founder,  that  the  people  of 
the  churches  would  form  a  mighty  league 
against  the  saloons,  was  soon  fulfilled. 
Russell  was  tireless  in  service  and  abundant 
in  success.  He  soon  interested  men  who  had 
both  conscience  and  capital  to  devote  to  the 
cause.  Two  of  them  deserve  special  men 
tion.  They  are  the  late  E.  W.  Metcalf  of 
Elyria,  and  Mr.  A.  I.  Root  of  Medina,  Ohio. 
These  men  by  their  counsel  and  gener 
osity  helped  give  the  new  venture  a 
rapid  start.  The  League  was  soon  felt  in 
legislation;  bad  legislation  was  stopped, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION         211 

and  advance  measures  were  taken;  laws 
long  disused  and  disobeyed  were  brought  to 
light  and  enforced,  until  the  eyes  of  tem 
perance  people  all  over  the  nation  were  at 
tracted  to  the  Ohio  idea  of  aggressive  con 
centration  against  the  saloon. 

In  1894  and  1895  Russell  began  to  have 
many  calls  from  the  outside  for  information 
about  the  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League  and  its 
work. 

Neighboring  States  began  to  organize 
along  the  same  lines.  A  call  for  an  Inter 
state  Convention  for  four  or  five  of  the 
interior  States,  with  a  view  to  forming  an 
Inter-State  Anti-Saloon  League,  had  been 
prepared,  and  was  about  to  be  issued,  when 
a  letter  came  from  the  Anti-Saloon  League 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  inviting  the 
Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League  to  join  in  a  call 
for  a  convention  to  organize  a  National 
Anti-Saloon  League.  The  Ohio  Anti- 
Saloon  League  joined  in  that  call  and  the 
American  Anti-Saloon  League  was  formed 
at  Washington  in  December,  1895. 


212          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

The  immediate  origin  of  the  National 
An  ti- Saloon  League  may  be  properly  said 
to  have  come  from  four  distinct  sources.  In 
the  first  place  there  had  been  non-partisan 
State  temperance  organizations  at  work  for 
several  years  previous  to  the  organization 
of  the  Anti-Saloon  League.  These  were  the 
Total  Abstinence  Society  in  Massachusetts, 
the  Connecticut  Temperance  Union  in  Con 
necticut,  the  Kansas  Temperance  Union  in 
Kansas,  and  the  Maryland  State  Temper 
ance  Alliance  in  Maryland.  At  least  three 
of  these  old  State  organizations  took  part  in 
the  convention  at  Washington  in  1895 
which  organized  the  American  An  ti- Saloon 
League,  and  they  have  all  since  as  bodies, 
federated  with  the  National  organization. 
In  the  second  place  a  movement  had  been 
planned  and  carried  forward  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  A.  J.  Kynett  in  connection  with  his 
regular  work  as  Secretary  of  the  Church 
Extension  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Church.  Dr.  Kynett  called  the 
organization  which  he  furthered  the  Inter- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          213 

denominational  Christian  Temperance  Al 
liance.  He  printed  a  monthly  magazine 
in  connection  with  his  Church  Extension 
Society  work,  and  this  magazine  contained 
a  department  relating  to  saloon  suppres 
sion,  in  which  he  advocated  the  organization 
of  branch  Alliances  in  the  different  locali 
ties  throughout  the  country,  and  as  far  as 
such  branches  were  organized  he  reported 
their  work  in  that  department  of  the 
magazine.  He  advocated  the  forming  of 
organizations  in  each  local  Methodist  church 
and  urged  that  the  churches  of  other  denom 
inations  should  form  like  organizations  and 
seek  alliance  with  each  other  in  the  various 
localities  and  States.  To  some  extent  he 
had  succeeded  in  securing  such  church  and 
local  organizations,  and  in  three  States, 
Pennsylvania,  Illinois  and  Ohio,  conven 
tions  had  been  held  and  officers  elected  to 
inaugurate  State  organizations  along  the 
same  lines.  Not  a  great  deal  of  work  had 
been  done  through  these  organizations,  as 
Dr.  Kynett  himself  stated,  for  lack  of  a 


214  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Superintendent  who  could  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  organization  and  direction  of 
the  movement.  Dr.  Kynett  was  glad  to 
join  forces  with  the  new  movement  planned 
at  the  Washington  Convention,  and  he  was, 
during  the  early  years  of  the  American 
Anti-Saloon  League,  one  of  its  most  wise 
and  faithful  counselors  and  leaders.  The 
third  source  of  the  Anti-Saloon  League 
movement  was  found  in  the  federation  of 
the  churches  and  temperance  societies  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  which  was  formed 
June  23,  1893,  under  the  name  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  Anti-Saloon  League,  and 
which  had  already  at  the  time  of  the  con 
vention  in  1895,  done  very  useful  service 
for  the  temperance  cause  at  the  Capital. 
Among  those  who  were  influential  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  League  when  the  Na 
tional  League  was  formed,  may  be  men 
tioned  Mr.  A.  N.  Canfield,  who  had  called 
the  first  conference  looking  toward  the  fed 
eration  of  the  Churches  and  Temperance 
Societies  of  the  District  of  Columbia 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          215 

in  an  Anti-Saloon  League,  and  Mr.  James 
L.  Ewin,  who  was  the  first  secretary 
of  the  National  Organization,  and  is  its 
present  corresponding  secretary,  and  who 
has  devoted  much  time  and  self-sacrificing 
sendee  in  connection  with  the  calling  and 
management  of  the  various  conventions  of 
the  League  at  Washington,  and  in  the  fur 
therance  of  the  League's  growth.  Rev. 
Luther  B.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  a  presiding  elder 
of  the  M.  E.  Church  at  Washington,  was 
more  than  any  other  man  influential  in 
causing  the  call  for  a  National  Organization 
to  be  issued.  He  was  at  that  time  President 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  League,  and  was 
elected  First  Vice-President  of  the  National 
League.  After  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Hiram 
Price,  who  was  the  first  President  of  the 
National  League,  Dr.  Wilson  was  elected 
to  succeed  him  as  the  League's  President, 
and  he  has  been  a  most  able  presiding 
officer.  The  fourth  source  of  influence  in 
the  forming  of  the  National  League  is 
found  in  the  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League 


216  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

with  its  successful  history  of  organiza 
tion  and  achievement  prior  to  the  Con 
vention  at  Washington  in  December,  1895, 
to  which  it  sent  its  delegates  to  take 
part  in  the  forming  of  the  National  organi 
zation.  Back  of  or  contemporaneous  with 
all  these  four  lines  of  influence  which  have 
been  named,  were  the  organized  efforts  made 
by  temperance  workers  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  which  had  resulted  in  the 
agitation  of  the  temperance  question  and 
the  concreting  of  the  public  sentiment  thus 
engendered  into  statute  law,  and  the  obtain 
ing  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law  in  the 
various  localities  throughout  the  country. 
The  organizing  Convention  adopted  a  Con 
stitution  providing  for  a  federation  of  all 
organizations  pledging  co-operation  in  the 
suppression  of  the  saloon. 

The  object  of  the  League  as  stated  in 
Article  Third  is  as  follows :  "  The  object  of 
this  League  is  THE  SUPPRESSION  OF  THE 
SALOON.  To  this  end  we  invite  the  alliance 
of  all  who  are  in  harmony  with  this  object, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          217 

and  the  League  pledges  itself  to  avoid  af 
filiation  with  any  political  party  as  such, 
and  to  maintain  an  attitude  of  neutrality 
upon  questions  of  public  policy  not  directly 
and  immediately  concerned  with  the  traffic 
in  strong  drink." 

An  Executive  Committee  was  elected  in 
harmony  with  the  Constitution,  and  pro 
vision  was  made  for  future  annual  con 
ventions  of  the  National  League.  These 
Conventions  have  been  held  with  an  in 
creasing  attendance  and  a  growing  federa 
tion  of  organizations  to  promote  the  objects 
of  the  League.  The  National  Organization 
now  federates  about  250  church,  temper 
ance,  and  other  bodies  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  The  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League  was 
recognized  as  the  "  model  "  for  other  State 
Leagues  to  be  formed  throughout  the  coun 
try,  and  the  Superintendent  of  the  Ohio 
League  was  elected  the  first  Superintendent 
of  the  National  Organization.  Gradually 
the  beginning  of  work  has  been  promoted  in 
the  various  States  since  1895 ;  in  some  cases 


218          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

by  correspondence,  but  with  greater  satis 
faction  and  success,  by  a  visit  to  the  new 
State  by  the  National  Superintendent.  In 
1897  Superintendent  Russell  spent  three 
months  introducing  the  work  in  California 
and  other  States  in  the  Far  West.  For  two 
years  after  the  National  League  was  formed 
Superintendent  Russell  served  as  Superin 
tendent  both  of  the  Ohio  League  and  of  the 
National  League,  and  during  the  years  1902 
and  1903  he  was  Superintendent  both  of  the 
National  League  and  of  the  New  York 
State  Anti-Saloon  League.  During  two  of 
the  years  of  his  superintendency  he  traveled 
over  50,000  miles  each  year  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  organization  in  new  States 
and  the  fostering  of  the  work  in  the  States 
where  the  League  had  already  been  formed. 
A  bright  judge  of  men  and  great  human 
movements  says :  "  Successful  leadership  de 
pends  entirely  upon  one's  ability  to  multiply 
himself  through  others.  Great  leaders 
must  not  only  lay  plans  which  are  practical 
but  must  also  be  able  to  call  around  them 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  219 

those  who  can  carry  out  their  orders  effi 
ciently  and  vigorously."  This  is  one  of 
Howard  Russell's  personal  qualities,  and 
has  contributed  greatly  to  his  success  as 
Superintendent  of  the  American  Anti- 
Saloon  League. 

Among  many  others  whom  he  has  chosen 
and  enlisted  to  co-operate  in  the  expansion 
of  the  League,  a  few  names  may  be  men 
tioned  of  those  who  have  been  longest 
associated  with  the  work.  The  Rev.  E.  C. 
Dinwiddie,  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  was  one  of 
the  first  men  called.  He  was  given  special 
charge  of  the  legislative  department  of  the 
Ohio  League,  for  which  work  he  showed 
great  aptitude.  After  four  years  in  Ohio 
he  took  entire  charge  for  two  years  of  the 
Pennsylvania  League,  and  now  for  three 
years  has  been  at  the  National  Headquarters 
of  the  League  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  where 
he  is  National  Legislative  Superintendent. 
He  is  a  man  rarely  qualified  for  such  tasks, 
and  his  work  has  met  with  gratifying  suc 
cess.  The  Rev.  P.  A.  Baker,  of  Columbus, 


220          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Ohio,  was  first  employed  as  a  District  Super 
intendent  of  the  Ohio  League,  and  was 
elected  State  Superintendent  when  Dr. 
Russell  resigned  to  assume  the  duties  of  the 
Superintendency  of  the  National  League  in 
1897.  Baker  has  carried  forward  and  de 
veloped  the  League  in  that  State  with 
masterly  ability  and  success.  He  is  as 
brave  as  a  lion,  as  wise  as  a  serpent,  and  a 
man  of  remarkable  adaptation  to  his  posi 
tion.  In  the  expansion  of  both  the  State 
and  National  Leagues,  Baker  and  Russell 
have  been  true  yoke-fellows.  They  are  the 
Cobden  and  Bright  of  this  mighty  move 
ment  for  reform.  Mr.  Wayne  B.  Wheeler 
was  one  of  the  bright  men  of  the  class 
of  1895  in  Oberlin  College.  Upon  his 
graduation  from  college  he  began  as  a 
field  secretary  in  the  Ohio  League,  and 
later  was  admitted  to  the  Ohio  Bar,  and 
has  since  made  a  brilliant  record  as  at 
torney  for  the  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Jackson  was  called 
from  an  important  Columbus  pastorate 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


to  the  League  work  in  1896,  and  after 
assisting  Superintendent  Russell,  both  in 
the  State  League  work,  and  in  organizing 
new  Leagues  in  other  States,  he  was  ap 
pointed  editor  of  The  American  Issue,  the 
organ  of  the  Ohio  League,  and  soon  to  be 
that  of  the  National  Organization.  By  his 
voice  on  Sunday,  and  his  pen  during  the 
week,  Dr.  Jackson  is  exerting  a  mighty  in 
fluence  for  the  cause. 

Time  would  fail  to  mention  other  names 
as  worthy  of  record.  One  after  another, 
strong  men  have  been  sought  out  and 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  various  State 
Organizations,  and  in  charge  of  the  equally 
important  district  work  in  many  of  the 
States.  A  particular  reference  to  these 
leaders  and  organizers  must  be  omitted  for 
lack  of  space,  but  they  are  exerting  a  power 
ful  influence  in  molding  public  sentiment 
against  the  liquor  traffic.  Nor  will  it  be 
possible  further  to  recite  the  wonderful 
growth  and  spread  of  this  marvelous  move 
ment,  Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  little  over  ten 


222  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

years  ago  Dr.  Russell,  first  privately,  then 
publicly,  at  the  great  Oberlin  meeting, 
proposed  the  League  system  of  State-wide 
Anti- Saloon  work  as  it  has  since  been  de 
veloped  throughout'the  land.  At  that  time, 
to  quote  Professor  Whitlock,  "  he  was  the 
only  salaried  officer.  Its  headquarters 
were  in  his  valise.  Its  stock  in  trade  were 
his  faith  and  heroism,  and  the  sympathy 
and  prayers  of  a  few  friends  and  advisers  " ; 
while  to-day,  according  to  Dr.  Russell's  last 
annual  report,  there  are  thirty-nine  States 
and  Territories  in  which  organization  has 
been  started,  wherein  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  are  devoting  their  entire  time 
to  the  work,  and  the  financial  support  for 
the  year  in  the  various  States  and  in  the 
National  League  will  approximate  a  quarter 
of  a  million  dollars, 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 


Whereas,  the  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  as  a 
beverage  is  productive  of  pauperism,  deg 
radation  and  crime,  and  believing  it  is  our 
duty  to  discourage  that  which  produces 
more  evil  than  good,  we  therefore  pledge 
ourselves  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  in 
toxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage. — The 
pledge  signed  and  advocated  by  Abraham 
Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   LINCOLN   LEGION 

THE  history  of  the  Temperance  Refor 
mation  will  show  very  clearly  that  the 
great  cause  of  sobriety,  as  well  as  the  enact 
ment  and  enforcement  of  laws  prohibiting 
or  restricting  the  liquor  traffic,  has  made  the 
most  rapid  progress  at  such  times  as  there 
have  been  general  movements  toward  what 
is  known  as  "  moral  suasion  "  methods.  In 
the  very  nature  of  things,  agitation,  persua 
sion,  appeal,  arouse  public  sentiment 
against  the  liquor  habit  and  the  liquor  traf 
fic,  and  these,  after  all,  must  be  depended 
upon  as  the  great  sources  of  prohibitory  law 
and  enforcement. 

What  an  awakening  of  conscience,  and 
what  a  change  in  the  views  and  habits  of  the 
people  of  the  whole  country  during  the 
Father  Matthew,  the  Washingtonian,  and 

225 


226          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  Murphy  campaigns!  The  fact  that  a 
drinking  man  was  battling  against  his  appe 
tite  and  inducing  others  to  likewise  enter 
the  conflict,  made  John  B.  Gough  an  influ 
ential  leader  of  thought,  and  by  his  life  and 
words  the  liquor  traffic  was  greatly  weak 
ened  throughout  the  land.  The  open  doors 
of  immigration  have  admitted  millions  of 
people  whose  past  habits  have  included  the 
use  of  alcoholic  beverages.  The  turning  of 
attention  by  the  leaders  of  the  temperance 
reform  in  recent  years  to  an  almost  exclu 
sive  contest  against  the  place  of  sale  of 
liquor,  and  the  general  neglect  of  the  popu 
lar  appeal  for  personal  abstinence  has,  in 
many  localities,  pressed  the  reform  dispro 
portionately  upon  the  legal  side.  It  is  a 
fact  that  in  those  localities  where  a  large 
enough  ratio  of  the  people  are  abstainers 
from  the  habit,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  ob 
taining  the  legal  abolition  of  the  traffic  in 
alcoholic  drinks.  There  are  many  hopeful 
signs  that  from  a  business  standpoint  social 
liquor  drinking  is  becoming  unpopular. 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          227 

The  railways  and  many  other  industries  are 
discouraging  and  prohibiting  the  use  of 
alcoholics  by  employees.  To  be  in  the  habit 
of  drinking  is  a  detriment  to  any  man  seek 
ing  any  kind  of  employment — even  that  of  a 
bartender. 

This  hopeful  sign  in  the  business  world 
does  not,  however,  obtain  in  modern  society. 
There  the  aspect  is  alarming,  and,  not  only 
in  what  is  known  as  the  "  Four  Hundred," 
but  among  the  great  middle-classes  of  well- 
to-do  people  in  the  large  towns  and  cities  of 
America,  there  is  in  many  circles  an  alarm 
ing  increase  in  social  drinking.  The  writer 
has  conversed  with  manj  distinguished 
clergymen  of  the  leading  denominations, 
during  the  last  two  or  three  years,  on  this 
subject,  and  he  is  assured  by  pastors  of 
great  churches  that  at  weddings,  and  social 
receptions  held  in  the  homes  of  the  wealthy 
members,  in  families  that  for  a  generation, 
have  been  practicing  total  abstinence,  the 
punch-bowl  is  now  coming  in,  and  alongside 
the  bowl  of  lemonade,  there  is  the  one  of 


228          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

wine,  and  that  the  wine  is  patronized  by 
the  church  people  to  an  alarming  extent. 
But,  to  my  mind,  the  most  serious  phase  of 
the  situation  to-day  is  the  undoubted  in 
crease  in  the  drinking  habit  of  respectable 
well-to-do  women.  The  writer  frequently 
meets  it  in  his  pastoral  work,  and  every 
pastor  in  the  great  cities  is  constantly  com 
ing  in  contact  with  the  ruin  that  is  being 
wrought  through  the  drunken  woman. 
Women  order  "  cocktails "  in  the  public 
restaurants  without  question  in  some  of  our 
large  cities,  and  these  are  not  lewd  women, 
but  are  frequently  women  who  are  members 
of  leading  Protestant  churches.  Surely  it 
is  high  time  to  call  a  halt.  It  is  time  that 
the  trumpet  is  sounded  for  a  new  move 
ment  for  total  abstinence  and  safety.  The 
great  danger  belt  in  the  temperance  move 
ment  lies  in  the  army  of  moderate  drinkers. 
While  the  greatest  tolerance  and  the  kindli 
est  spirit  should  ever  be  used  in  dealing  with 
those  whose  past  training  and  environment 
have  made  them  in  favor  of  the  so-called 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          229 

moderate  use  of  liquor,  it  is  undoubtedly  the 
supreme  duty  of  the  churches  and  all  moral 
people  who  see  the  peril  of  the  habit,  to  cry 
out  in  warning. 

A  subtle  sophistry,  which  is  very  wide 
spread,  more  widely  than  the  casual  ob 
server  knows,  needs  to  be  overthrown.  This 
is  the  belief  among  laboring  people  that  an 
alcoholic  stimulant  is  necessary  to  the  work 
ing  man.  If  it  is  not  thought  essential,  it 
is  at  least  believed  to  be  very  strengthening 
and  helpful.  It  is  of  great  importance  that 
the  truth  to  the  contrary  be  attractively  and 
persistently  taught  upon  this  question. 

Why  is  it  that  Gospel  temperance  and 
pledge-signing  urges  forward  so  effectively 
the  whole  reform?  The  reason  is  this: 
Pledge-signing  meetings  arouse  attention  to 
the  perils  and  waste  of  the  drink  habit. 
They  put  the  whole  community  on  inquiry 
and  compel  personal  decisions ;  they  awaken 
judgment  and  conscience,  both  as  to  habit 
and  traffic.  If  alcohol  is  harmful  as  a  bev 
erage,  and  causes  crime,  poverty,  and  dis- 


230  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

ease,  then  the  abolition  of  its  retail  sale  in 
the  community  is  logically  in  order.  So  a 
gospel  temperance  campaign  is  a  flank 
movement  against  the  saloon.  As  an  im 
petus  to  real  revivals  of  religion,  the  tem 
perance  campaigns  have  been  a  marked 
blessing.  It  needs  no  analysis  to  see  the 
reason  for  this.  The  moral  sense  of  the 
whole  citizenship  is  awakened  by  a  series  of 
gospel  temperance  services,  and  it  is  easy  to 
go  forward  with  the  preaching  of  the  pure 
gospel  of  salvation  from  all  sin  by  the  power 
of  a  personal  Saviour.  Many  a  minister  liv 
ing  to-day  can  testify  to  the  good  agency  of  a 
temperance  campaign  as  leading  to  a  re 
ligious  revival.  Do  we  not  need  to-day  such 
a  moral  awakening  as  we  should  have  just 
reason  to  expect  from  a  general  movement 
for  total  abstinence? 

Personally,  I  do  not  believe  that  there 
will  be  any  great  general  revival  of  religion 
in  the  United  States  until  the  church  gener 
ally  becomes  aggressive  on  the  subject  of  the 
liquor  traffic.  We  may  issue  all  the  mani- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          231 

festos  we  please,  and  declare  that  this  or 
that  year  is  to  see  a  great  revival.  But  it 
will  not  come  to  pass  until  the  church  re 
pents  of  its  indifference  towards  the  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  God's  weak  children, 
who  are  being  ruined  and  destroyed  through 
the  oppressions  of  the  liquor  traffic.  It  is 
because  I  believe,  with  all  ray  heart,  that  the 
best  way  to  arouse  the  church  to  adequate 
activity  on  this  momentous  question  is  to 
return  to  first  principles,  and  awaken  the 
conscience  of  the  people  anew  to  the  sin  of 
drunkenness,  to  the  duty  of  brotherly  in 
fluence,  and  to  a  keen  sense  of  brotherly 
obligation,  as  well  as  to  the  enormity  of  the 
crime  of  selling  liquor,  that  the  author,  a 
Christian  minister,  and  a  Prohibitionist, 
urges  with  hopeful  and  devoted  enthusiasm 
this  new  pledge  movement,  the  Lincoln 
Legion. 

After  long  study  of  the  situation,  Dr. 
Howard  Russell  decided  to  sound  a  number 
of  leading  comrades  in  temperance  work  to 
see  whether  they  would  agree  with  him  that 


232          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

the  hour  was  ripe  for  carrying  forward  sys 
tematic  pledge-signing  enrollment  through 
out  the  whole  country  in  connection  with 
the  churches,  which  should  include  substan 
tially  the  features  which  have  been  em 
bodied  in  the  Lincoln  Legion. 

The  responses  received  from  several  hun 
dred  pastors  and  temperance  workers 
throughout  the  land  have  been  favorable 
and  generally  enthusiastic  in  their  endorse 
ment  of  these  propositions  submitted  by  Dr. 
Russell.  We  can  quote  only  a  few  of  them 
here.  These  are  typical  statements : 

Rev.  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.  D.,  of  Boston : 
"  I  like  your  plan,  and  believe  it  is  along  the 
right  line." 

Bishop  Samuel  Fallows,  Chicago :  "  I  will 
do  all  in  my  power  to  advance  the  work  so 
important  and  far-reaching  that  you  are 
undertaking." 

Rev.  Albert  G.  Lawson,  D.  D.,  Camden, 
N.  J. :  "  It  is  wise  and  timely.  Much  of 
our  present  weakness  has  come  from  just 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          233 

such  neglect  of  moral  and  Christian  effort 
as  you  propose." 

Rev.  S.  S.  Scovill,  D.  D.,  Wooster,  Ohio: 
"  It  is  a  movement  in  the  right  direction." 

Mrs.  Mary  II.  Hunt,  Boston :  "  I  heartily 
approve,  if  accompanied  by  education  as  to 
the  nature  and  power  for  evil  of  alcoholic 
drinks." 

Rev.  James  D.  Hill,  D.  D.,  Salem,  Mass. : 
"  I  have  the  clear  opinion  that  we  ought  to 
do  no  less  to  shut  up  saloons,  but  ought  to 
do  more  to  get  men  to  stop  drinking.  When 
men  stop  drinking  the  saloon  will  stop." 

Rev.  W.  H.  Hickman,  D.  D.,  Greencastle, 
Ind. :  "  The  plan  is  good ;  will  commit  the 
people ;  certainly  I  endorse  this  movement." 

Mrs.  Ellen  J.  Phinney,  Cleveland,  Ohio: 
"  I  do  approve  most  heartily.  We  can  enroll 
a  mighty  host." 

Rev.  A.  Z.  Conrad,  D.  D.,  Worcester, 
Mass :  "  It  is  the  great  need  of  the  hour.  It 
will  educate  and  stimulate.  It  will  give  the 
saloon  a  blow  between  the  eyes." 

William  Shaw,  Boston  (Treasurer  C.  E. 


234          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

Society):  "It  is  fundamental.  Political 
prohibition  is  helpless  without  it." 

John  Sobieski,  Neosho,  Mo. :  "  I  think  it 
just  the  thing.  Will  do  all  I  can  to  push  it." 

President  W.  O.  Thompson,  D.  D.,  Colum 
bus,  Ohio :  "  Heartily  in  favor ;  something 
must  be  done  to  arouse  the  younger  ele 
ment  of  society  to  its  danger." 

Rev.  P.  S.  Henson,  D.  D.,  Chicago  (now 
Brooklyn):  "I  hail  it  as  the  hopefulest 
thing  yet  attempted.  The  practical,  per 
sonal  pledge  has  been  too  long  neglected,  for 
fireworks  shot  in  the  air  and  hitting  noth 
ing." 

The  National  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Anti-Saloon  League  some  time  since  en 
dorsed  the  plans  submitted  to  them  by  Su 
perintendent  Russell,  and  approved  the 
initiation  of  this  movement.  The  State 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  New  York  State 
Anti-Saloon  League,  in  June,  1902,  did  like 
wise.  The  League  officers  in  several  other 
States  have  given  their  sanction.  The  pas- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGIOX          235 

tors  of  a  number  of  important  churches 
and  many  influential  business  men  have 
promised  their  hearty  co-operation.  Every 
thing  augurs  a  hopeful  and  successful  in 
auguration  of  this  important  work. 

I  have  now  told  the  story  of  the  Lincoln 
Legion,  its  founder,  and  the  persons  and 
events  which  have  anticipated  and  sug 
gested  this  new  movement.  I  wish  to  testify 
to  my  deep  and  growing  interest  in  the 
coming  Lincoln  Legion.  The  times  are  op 
portune,  the  leadership  will  be  masterful, 
the  constituency  will  be  enthusiastic. 

As  to  the  methods,  as  you  read  the  pros 
pectus  which  now  follows,  prepared  by  Su 
perintendent  Howard  Russell,  I  am  sure 
you  will  agree  with  me  that  a  most  attrac 
tive  and  workable  plan  of  fellowship  is 
offered  by  the  "  Lincoln  Legion."  It  only 
remains  for  all  who  approve  the  purposes  of 
the  Legion  to  take  a  share  in  the  sacrifice 
and  service  involved,  and  together  we  shall 
make  the  cause  triumphant  "  Fall  in,  and 
forward  march ! " 


236          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 
The  Prospectus  is  as  follows : 

PROSPECTUS  OP  THE  LINCOLN 
LEGION. 

It  is  hereby  proposed: 

First,  NAME  :  That  we  accept  the  inspira 
tion  of  the  life  and  teaching  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  upon  the  question  of  Abstinence 
from  Intoxicants ;  that  we  recognize  his  tem 
perate  example  as  a  model  for  our  practice, 
and  that  we  honor  his  sacred  memory  by 
organizing  a  host  of  pledged  abstainers  to 
bear  his  name,  and  to  be  called  THE  LIN 
COLN  LEGION. 

Second,  PLEDGE  :  That  we  make  our  pledge 
simple  and  brief  in  form  and  elastic  as  to 
time.  Twelve  words  will  be  sufficient  to  em 
body  the  central  organic  idea  which  we  place 
upon  our  banner : 

"WITH  GOD'S  HELP, 

I  WILL  ABSTAIN  FROM  ALL 

INTOXICATING  LIQUORS 

AS  BEVERAGES." 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  237 

A  choice  is  to  be  given  the  recruit  in  this 
Legion  of  three  kinds  of  pledges  as  to  time. 

The  Red  pledge  is  a  term  pledge  which 
binds  the  signer  for  a  limited  term; 
the  length  of  which  he  states  upon  the 
pledge.  This  pledge  is  renewable,  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  officers  to  see  that  it  is 
renewed. 

The  'White  pledge  is  the  life  pledge,  which 
will  be  ordinarily  taken  by  those  who  are 
entirely  settled  upon  the  question. 

The  Blue  pledge  is  for  the  children, 
limited  to  their  reaching  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  Eenewable  for  life,  after  reaching 
fifteen  years  of  age. 

Third,  COLORS:  The  colors  for  a  Lincoln 
Movement  would  naturally  be  our  national 
colors.  We  have  already  had  a  Blue  Ribbon 
and  Red  Ribbon  Movement,  while  the  White 
Ribbon  of  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  has  been  every 
where  a  badge  of  abstinence.  As  we  need 
in  order  to  be  successful,  a  unification  of  the 
efforts  of  all  upon  this  work,  so  let  us  com 
bine  all  our  former  emblems  and  in  unison 


238  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

sing :  "  Three  cheers  for  the  red,  white,  and 
blue!" 

Fourth,  ENROLLMENT  AND  OVERSIGHT:  It 
should  be  understood  that  the  Lincoln 
Legion  is  to  be  built  up  by  present  organiza 
tions,  thus  unitedly  promoting  total  ab 
stinence.  A  new  independent  organization 
is  not  necessary  nor  desirable.  A  very 
simple  form  of  administration  is  proposed, 
full  details  of  which  will  be  printed  in  a 
small  handbook.  The  Legion  will  be  sub 
divided  into  Hundreds,  Thousands,  County 
Divisions,  and  State  Divisions.  Suitable 
officers  will  be  appointed,  as  for  example, 
the  Captain  and  nine  Comrades  in  each 
Hundred  and  a  Marshal  and  ten  Captains 
in  each  Thousand.  A  County,  State,  and 
National  President  will  be  the  leading 
officer  of  those  respective  Divisions  of  the 
Legion. 

Fifth,  INITIAL  SERVICES  AND  REUNIONS 
will  be  held  by  the  various  subdivisions,  at 
such  times  as  may  be  agreed  upon. 

It  is  proposed  that  Lincoln's  Birthday 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION          239 

shall  be  fittingly  honored  in  every  lo 
cality  by  this  organization,  which  his 
marked  sobriety  and  gracious  memory  have 
inspired,  and  that  the  Lincoln  Legion  shall 
do  its  part  to  redeem  the  Fourth  of  July 
from  the  empty  clamor,  and  indifferent  or 
objectionable  observance,  which  have  come 
to  characterize  too  often  the  recurrence  of 
our  national  holiday. 

Sixth,  As  TO  CONSTITUENTS  :  The  Lincoln 
Legion  is  to  be  an  open  society  with  no 
grips  nor  passwords,  and  is  to  be  made  up  of 
men,  women,  young  people,  and  children. 
It  is  hoped  that  it  will  become  the  practice 
for  whole  families  to  unite  together  as  mem 
bers  of  the  same  Hundred.  All  political 
partisanship  is  to  be  kept  out  of  the  organi 
zation,  each  member  being  free  as  to  his 
party  preferences. 

Seventh,  THE  LEAGUE  AND  THE  LEGION: 
With  reference  to  the  relationship  of  the 
LINCOLN  LEGION  to  the  Anti-Saloon  League, 
the  Legion  may  very  conveniently  be  promo 
ted  by  the  League  officers,  since  the  League 


240  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

is  the  direct  agency  of  the  churches,  in  which 
especially  the  Legion  must  become  strong  if 
it  makes  any  headway  and  history  for  the 
cause  of  Abstinence.  While  the  Anti- 
Saloon  League  will  introduce  and  foster  the 
LINCOLN  LEGION  in  many  of  the  States,  the 
League  will,  however,  claim  no  monopoly  of 
the  work  of  organizing  and  promoting  the 
Legion.  It  is  expected  that  any  other 
organization  and  any  individual  anywhere 
may  lend  a  hand  in  pushing  forward  the 
good  work  of  the  Legion.  The  Legion  will 
support  the  measures  of  the  League  so 
far  as  such  measures  appeal  to  the  members 
of  the  Legion  as  lines  of  activity  which  may 
consistently  be  carried  forward.  It  is  rea 
sonable  to  expect  that  the  Legion  will  stand 
for  advancing  legislation  against  the  saloon 
and  that  as  an  organization  it  will  assist 
in  supporting  public  officials  who  will  enact 
and  enforce  reasonable  temperance  legisla 
tion  in  accord  with  general  public  senti 
ment.  It  is  expected  that  in  all  the  Re 
unions  of  the  Legion  will  be  discussed  the 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  241 

questions  at  issue  with  the  Saloon  in  the 
State  and  community  and  that  all  possible 
efforts  will  be  made  to  weaken  the  places  of 
temptation  to  drink,  so  far  as  consistent 
with  the  non-partisan  character  of  the 
Legion.  A  State  Division  Reunion,  held  an 
nually  or  bi-annually,  and  largely  attended, 
as  it  probably  would  be,  would  exert  a  pow 
erful  influence  in  advancing  all  phases  of 
the  reform  throughout  the  State.  As  the 
League  enlists  those  who  are  not  total  ab 
stainers  in  its  efforts  to  suppress  the  saloon, 
so  the  Legion  will  recruit  and  enroll  as 
abstainers  those  who  are  willing  to  forego 
tJie  practice  of  using  liquor  as  a  beverage, 
even  though  they  be  unwilling  personally  to 
enter  upon  aggressive  work  against  the 
liquor  traffic. 

Eighth,  As  TO  THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE 
LEGION  :  Each  Hundred  in  adopting  its  by 
laws  will  prescribe  as  it  chooses  as  to  its 
financial  plans.  The  work  will  not  be 
costly.  It  will  be  promoted  largely  by 
organizations  already  existing.  Its  Re- 


242          THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

unions  will  be  held  in  the  churches  and  other 
buildings  which  become  responsible  as  posts 
for  the  work.  The  sums  needed  for  lit 
erature  and  to  send  delegates  to  the  Division 
and  Legion  Reunions  may  easily  be  raised 
by  an  offering  at  a  regular  Reunion  of  the 
Hundred  or  Thousand. 

The  An ti- Saloon  League  will  provide  all 
the  printed  matter  necessary  for  recruiting 
and  mustering  the  Hundred,  and  it  is 
expected  that  the  expenses  of  maintaining 
the  State  Division  headquarters  can  be 
readily  provided  by  an  annual  free-will  col 
lection  by  those  Hundreds  willing  to  take 
it  up  for  that  purpose.  It  is  therefore 
thought  best  to  prescribe  no  financial  ob 
ligation,  but  to  leave  each  member  of  the 
Legion  free  to  do  much  or  little  or  make  no 
gift  at  all  as  he  may  freely  choose  to  do  in 
that  regard. 

Ninth,  BADGES,  BUTTONS,  ETC.:  It  will 
deepen  the  interest  and  help  spread  the 
movement  to  have  attractive  badges,  but 
tons,  and  insignia,  These  will  come  nat- 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  243 

urally  as  the  movement  develops.  The  Lib 
erty  Bell  is  suggested  as  one  of  the  badges. 
The  log  house  and  the  rails  will  be  sugges 
tive  of  Lincoln's  early  and  honest  struggles, 
and  his  benign  face  will  be  always  sugges 
tive  of  what  we  seek  to  teach  and  practice  in 
the  LINCOLN  LEGION. 

Tenth,  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  LEGION: 
The  most  important  point  connected  with 
the  movement  is  the  spirit  which  is  to 
characterize  it.  If  it  is  God-ordained, 
it  will  be  Christlike  in  its  aims  and 
works.  It  will  be  inspired  from  the  be 
ginning  with  the  spirit  of  true  love.  The 
13th  of  1st  Corinthians  will  be  the  chapter 
embodying  its  high  sentiments  of  tolerance 
and  forbearance.  With  "  Love  "  as  its  first 
watchword  it  will  be  easy  to  take  up  the 
burden  of  sacrifice  which  abstinence  for  the 
sake  of  others  may  require.  It  is  often  as 
useful  to  go  without  for  the  sake  of  the 
good  of  others  as  to  do  some  positive  act  of 
helpfulness.  So  "  Sacrifice "  will  be  an 
other  important  watchword.  The  LINCOLN 


244  THE  LINCOLN  LEGION 

LEGION  if  it  succeeds  in  doing  the  work 
anticipated  by  those  who  have  thought  in 
tently  and  prayed  earnestly  at  its  beginning 
will  have  the  spirit  of  the  Helping  Hand. 
The  children  are  to  be  guided  aright  by 
example  and  precept  and  lovingly  saved 
from  beginning  the  perilous  and  wasteful 
habit  of  drink.  The  work  of  the  Legion  will 
not  perform  its  anticipated  duty  unless  it 
reaches  an  arm  of  help  and  salvation  to 
multitudes  who  are  overthrown  and  bound 
by  the  power  of  appetite  for  drink.  As  this 
is  the  most  supreme  need  of  this  reform  so  it 
will  be  the  most  consecrated  work  of  the 
Legion.  Let  its  climax  watchword  then  be 
"  Service." 

"  LOVE,  SACRIFICE,  SERVICE  !  "  The  ban 
ner  with  such  a  motto  leads  the  united  dis 
ciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  inevitably,  into  the 
realm  of  evangelistic  service.  Is  it  too  much 
to  expect,  through  the  Lincoln  Legion,  the 
turning  from  all  sin  by  great  multitudes  of 
people?  Grant  this,  O  Almighty  God ! 

Who  can  measure  the  vast  possibilities  of 


THE  LINCOLN  LEGION  245 

such  a  unity  in  moral  effort  as  is  proposed  in 
the  LINCOLN  LEGION?  It  means  a  quicken 
ing  of  the  pace  of  a  great  reform.  It  means 
for  many,  salvation  from  present  distress 
and  dishonor.  It  means  the  opening  of  the 
Heavens  with  revival  rains !  If  only  we  can 
catch  anew  the  bright  and  glorious  spirit  of 
our  honored  leader,  Abraham  Lincoln! 
His  was  a  life  of  Love,  Sacrifice,  and  Ser 
vice,  inspired  by  the  matchless  Master,  who 
"  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many !  "  In  this  spirit  we  summon  forth 
into  life  and  action,  the  hosts  of 

THE  LINCOLN  LEGION! 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS  AND  FACTS 
REFERRED  TO 

American  Anti-Saloon  League,  origin  of,  212-216; 
organization  of,  Washington,  D.  C.,  December, 
1895,  216;  constitution  of,  216;  growth  and 
progress  of,  221-222;  Executive  Committee  of 
endorses  Gospel  Temperance  Plan,  234. 

Alexander,  Senator  Park,  200. 

Anti-Saloon  League,  first  Missionary  of,  196;  first 
public  meeting  of,  June  4,  1893,  207;  rapid 
growth  and  success  of  in  Ohio,  210,  211; 
relation  of  Lincoln  Legion  to,  239. 

Baily,  Joshua  L.,  referred  to  on  page  114. 

Baker,  Rev.  P.  A.,  one  of  the  first  League  workers, 
219;  elected  State  Superintendent  of  the  Ohio 
Anti-Saloon  League,  1897,  220. 

Band    of  Hope,  113. 

Brand,  Eev.  Dr.  James,  presides  at  first  meeting  of 
Anti-Saloon  League,  207;  prophesies  that  first 
meeting  of  League  will  be  historic,  207. 

Beauchamp,  Lou,  referred  to,  168. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  tribute  to  Frances  Willard 
by,  153. 

Berry,  K.  E.,  referred  to  on  pages  40-41. 

Breckenridge,  Cleopas,  referred  to  on  pages  31,  32. 

Breckenridge,  Preston,  referred  to  on  pages  45,  46, 

Burdick,  P.  A.,  referred  to  on  page  168. 
247 


248  INDEX 


Cadets  of  Temperance,  113. 

Canfield,  A.  N.,  214. 

Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union,  history  and  work 
of,  116-117. 

Clark,  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  E.,  endorses  League  plan 
for  Gospel  Temperance,  232. 

Coffin,  C.  C.,  testimony  concerning  Lincoln's  tem 
perance  principles  by,  24. 

Connecticut  Temperance  Union,  212. 

Conrad,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Z.,  endorses  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  233. 

Crook,  Senator,  200-201. 

Cuyler,  Theodore  L.,  meets  Father  Matthew,  89; 
referred  to  on  page  114. 

Davis,  Hon.  Frank  M.,  referred  to  on  page  175. 

Diller,  Roland,  Lincoln's  legislative  desk  at  home 
of,  29. 

Dinwiddie,  Rev.  E.  C.,  one  of  the  first  workers  in 
Anti-Saloon  League,  219;  Superintendent  of 
Legislation  in  Ohio,  219;  Legislative  Superin 
tendent  at  Washington,  219. 

District  of  Columbia  Anti-Saloon  League,  formed 
June  23,  1893,  214;  leads  in  the  call  for  con 
vention  to  organize  American  League,  214. 

Drink  habits,  increase  of  in  the  large  cities,  227-228. 

Dodge,  Rev.  Dr.  D.  Stuart,  referred  to  on  page  114. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  offers  whisky  to  Lincoln,  which 
is  declined,  23. 

Doutney,  Thomas,  referred  to  on  page  168. 

Dunn,  Rev.  Dr.  James  B.,  referred  to  on  pag-e  115. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  195. 

Ewin,  James  L.,  First  Secretary  American  Anti- 
Saloon  League,  215. 


INDEX  249 


Fallows,  Bishop,  endorses  plan  for  Gospel  Tem 
perance,  232. 

Father  Matthew  campaign,  effect  of,  225. 

Finner,  Mrs.  D.  K.,  Secretary  of  the  Hillsboro  cru 
sade,  144. 

First  Church,  Oberlin,  Ohio,  union  meeting  of  Anti- 
Saloon  League  in,  207. 

First  public  meeting  of  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League, 
207. 

Friends  of  Temperance,  113. 

Galloway,  Mrs.  Almarinda,  was  present  at  Lincoln 
meeting  at  South  Fork  Schoolhouse,  47. 

Good  Templars,  111-112. 

Gospel  Temperance  plan,  236. 

Gospel  Temperance  and  pledge-signing  efficient  in 
the  reform,  reasons  why,  229-230. 

Gough,  John  B.,  biography  of,  121-136;  signs  the 
pledge,  124;  becomes  a  temperance  orator, 
125;  Mary  Gough,  his  wife,  127;  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  Boston,  Mass.,  in  1844,  129;  apostrophe 
to  water  by,  130;  effect  of  campaigns  of, 
226. 

Gough,  Mrs.  Mary  Whiteomb,  referred  to  on  page* 
127-128. 

Gunsaulus,  Frank  W.,  tribute  to  Frances  Willard  by, 
151-153. 

Hawkins,  John,  leading  member  of  Washingtonians, 
100;  biographical  sketch  of,  102-108;  referred  to 
on  page  110. 

Hay,  John,  testimony  to  Lincoln'*  abstinent  prin 
ciples,  26. 

Henson,  Rev.  Dr.  P.  S.,  endorse*  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  234. 


250  INDEX 


Hickman,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  H.,  endorses  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  233. 

Hill,  Rev.  Dr.  James  D.,  endorses  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  233. 

Howard,  Gen.  O.  O.,  referred  to  on  page  114. 

Hunt,  Mrs.  Mary  H.,  endorses  League  plan  for  Gos 
pel  Temperance,  233. 

Independent  Order  of  Rechabites,  referred  to  on 
page  113. 

Interdenominational  Christian  Temperance  Alli 
ance,  organized  by  Dr.  Kynett,  212;  co-operates 
in  organization  of  Anti-Saloon  League,  214. 

Ireland,  Archbishop  John,  referred  to  on  page  117. 

Jackson,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.,  editor  of  The  American 
Issue,  the  organ  of  the  League,  221. 

Kansas  Temperance  Union,  212. 

Kynett,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  J.,  founder  of  the  Interdenom 
inational  Christian  Temperance  Alliance,  212; 
merges  his  organization  into  the  Anti-Saloon 
League,  214;  one  of  the  early  leaders  of  the 
American  Anti-Saloon  League,  214. 

Lawson,  Rev.  Dr.  Albert  G.,  endorses  League  plan 
for  Gospel  Temperance,  232. 

Lewis,  Dr.  Dio,  incites  the  woman's  crusade,  139- 
140. 

Liberty  Bell,  suggested  as  one  of  the  badges  of  Lin 
coln  Legion,  243. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  childhood  of,  13;  books  read  by, 
14;  what  he  told  Leonard  Swett  about  books 
he  read,  14;  early  life  a  life  of  poverty,  14;  tells 
Seward  how  he  earned  his  first  dollar,  14-16; 
testimony  of  his  stepmother  concerning  him, 
17;  early  had  a  spirit  of  helpfulness,  17;  wrote 


INDEX  251 


essays  against  cruelty  to  animals,  18;  saved  a 
poor  drunkard  from  freezing  to  death,  18; 
visited  New  Orleans  at  nineteen  years  of  age, 
19;  sees  slave  auction  at  New  Orleans,  20; 
review  of  young  manhood  of,  20;  Joshua 
Speed  tells  of  the  beginning  of  career  of  as 
lawyer,  21;  Speed  shares  his  room  with  young 
Lincoln,  22;  always  stood  for  Temperance,  22; 
first  essay  of  was  on  the  subject  of  Temper 
ance,  22;  was  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Tem 
perance,  23;  Declines  whisky  offered  by 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  23;  tells  Leonard  Swett 
he  had  never  tasted  liquor,  23;  offers  water 
to  the  committee  who  notify  him  of  his  nomi 
nation  as  President,  24,  25;  Hon.  John  Hay 
and  John  G.  Nicolay  testify  to  Lincoln's  habits 
of  abstinence,  25,  26;  legislative  desk  of  at 
Roland  Diller's  home,  Springfield,  111.,  29; 
testimony  of  Roland  Diller  to  abstinent  habits 
of,  30;  Cleopas  Breckenridge  tells  the  story 
of  temperance  meeting  at  South  Fork  school- 
house  in  1847,  addressed  by,  32,  33;  pledged 
Cleopas  Breckenridge  to  total  abstinence,  34, 
35;  R.  E.  Berry  and  Moses  Martin  testify  con 
cerning  address  at  South  Fork  schoolhouse 
of,  41-46;  Mrs.  Almarinda  Bell  Galloway  at 
South  Fork  schoolhouse  hears  temperance  ad 
dress  of,  47;  Washingtonian  address  on  Feb. 
22,  1842,  by,  51-75;  was  a  reader  of  Sangamon 
Weekly  Journal,  in  which  Father  Matthew's  ad 
dresses  appeared,  95;  the  honored  leader  of 
the  Lincoln  Legion,  245. 
Lincoln  Legion,  The,  reasons  why  organization  is 


252  INDEX 


needed,  229;  strongly  urged  by  the  author, 
230-231;  pledge  of,  236;  name,  236;  colors  of, 
237;  enrollment  and  oversight  in,  238;  initial 
services  and  reunions  of,  238;  will  honor  Lin 
coln's  birthday,  239;  will  hold  similar  re 
unions  on  Fourth  of  July,  239;  constituents 
of,  239;  relationship  to  Anti-Saloon  League, 
239;  division  reunions  of,  241;  expenses  of, 
241;  printed  matter  to  be  prepared  by  Anti- 
Saloon  League,  242;  badges,  buttons  for,  242; 
Liberty  Bell  suggested  as  one  of  the  badges 
of,  243;  spirit  of,  243;  watchwords  of,  243-244. 

"Love,"  one  of  the  watchwords  of  the  Lincoln 
Legion,  243. 

Luther,  Martin,  195. 

Mahomet,  195. 

Martin,  Moses,  referred  to  on  pages  40-43. 

Martin,  William,  interests  Father  Matthew  in 
pledge  work,  1838,  80-83. 

Maryland  State  Temperance  Alliance,  212. 

Massachusetts  Total  Abstinence  Society,  212. 

Matthew,  Father  Theobald,  begins  his  work,  84;  at 
Limerick,  84;  amusing  incident  at  Waterford, 
85;  visits  England,  88;  meets  Theodore  L.  Cuy- 
ler,  88;  visits  America  in  1849-1871,  91;  wel 
come  speech  of  mayor  of  New  York  to,  92. 

Metcalf,  E.  W.,  early  supporter  of  Anti-Saloon 
League,  210. 

Murphy,  Francis,  biography  of,  157-169;  conversion 
of  in  Portland,  Me.,  160;  first  lecture  of,  161; 
quotation  from  address  in  Columbus,  Ohio, 
by,  161. 

Murphy  campaign,  effect  of,  226. 


INDEX  253 


McDowell,  Mrs.  Gen.,  Vice-Preaident  of  Hillsboro 
crusade,  144. 

National  Temperance  Society,  sketch  of  it*  history 
and  work,  113-115. 

New  York  State  Anti-Saloon  League,  Board  of  Trus 
tees  endorses  Gospel  Temperance  plan,  234. 

Nicolay,  John  G.,  testimony  to  Lincoln's  temper 
ance  principles  by,  26. 

Order  of  Good  Samaritans  and  Daughters  of  Samaria, 
113. 

Oberlin,  churches  of,  contribute  $1,000  per  year  to 
the  Anti-Saloon  League,  210. 

Oberlin  Temperance  Alliance,  199;  holds  first  public 
meeting  of  Anti-Saloon  League,  June  4,  1893, 
206. 

Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League,  first  public  meeting  of, 
in  Oberlin,  207;  joins  District  of  Columbia 
Anti-Saloon  League  in  call  for  National  Con 
vention,  211;  joins  in  organization  of  Ameri 
can  Anti-Saloon  League,  215. 

Price,  Hon.  Hiram,  First  President  of  The  American 
Anti-Saloon  League,  215. 

Phinney,  Mrs.  Ellen  J.,  endorses  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  233. 

Prospectus  of  Lincoln  Legion,  236. 

Reese,  W.  J.,  appointed  Organizer  of  Missouri  Anti- 
Liquor  League,  203. 

Reynolds,  Dr.  Henry  A.,  biography  of,  166-168. 

Root,  A.  I.,  early  supporter  of  Anti-Saloon  League, 
210. 

Russell,  Howard  H.,  visits  Diller  in  Springfield,  30; 
meets  Cleopas  Breckenridge,  32;  at  the  Breck- 
enridge  farm,  39;  calls  on  Martin  and  Berry 


254  INDEX 


at  Edinburg,  111.,  40;  biography  of,  173-192; 
admitted  to  the  bar,  176;  county  superin 
tendent  of  schools,  178;  ministry  in  Kansas 
City,  179;  Pastor  Armour  Mission,  181;  called 
to  temperance  work,  183;  characterization 
of  by  Prof.  W.  F.  Whitlock,  187-191;  early  im 
pressions  of  the  evil  of  drink  by,  197;  facts  dis 
covered  at  Staffordshire,  England,  by,  197;  as 
a  lawyer  prosecuted  saloon-keepers,  197;  in 
Iowa  took  part  in  Prohibitory  Amendment 
campaign,  198;  delegate  to  temperance  con 
ventions,  198;  led  in  the  Murphy  movement, 
198;  organized  local  anti-saloon  campaign  at 
Berea,  Ohio,  198;  assaulted  by  saloon-keeper, 
198;  while  a  pastor  tried  cases  against  illegal 
saloon-keepers,  199;  was  given  farewell  recep 
tion  by  citizens  of  Berea,  Ohio,  in  1888,  199; 
employed  by  Oberlin  Temperance  Alliance  in 
legislative  campaign,  199;  organized  Local 
Option  League  in  Ohio,  199;  leader  of  Ohio 
Legislative  Campaign  for  local  option  law, 
1887,  199-202;  arranges  Anti-Saloon  Conven 
tion,  Pertle  Springs,  Mo.,  July,  1890,  202; 
elected  President  Missouri  Anti-Liquor  League, 

1890,  202;   called  to  Armour  Mission,  Chicago, 

1891,  203;    as  pastor  sees  many  tragedies  re 
sulting     from     drink,     203-204;     confers     with 
Oberlin  faculty  and  citizens  with  reference  to 
anti-saloon  organization  in  Ohio,    204;    settles 
the  question  of  future  work  in  the  temperance 
reform,     205;     Oberlin     Temperance     Alliance 
decides  to  inaugurate  Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League, 
May  24,  1893,  at  request  of,  206;   employed  as 


INDEX  255 


Superintendent  Anti-Saloon  League,  May  24, 
1893,  206;  makes  first  public  address  advocating 
Anti-Saloon  League,  208-209;  first  Superin 
tendent  of  the  American  Anti-Saloon  League, 
217;  organizes  State  Leagues  in  the  far  West, 
218;  travels  50,000  miles  per  year  in  organizing 
work,  218;  enlists  many  additional  helpers  in 
the  League,  219-220;  secures  opinions  as  to 
Gospel  Temperance  Campaign,  231-234;  pre 
pares  prospectus  of  Lincoln  Legion,  235. 

Eussell,  Joseph  A.,  referred  to  on  pages   173-174. 

"  Sacrifice,"  one  of  the  watchwords  of  the  Lincoln 
Legion,  243. 

Stratton,  Joel,  induces  Gough  to  sign  the  pledge,  121- 
124. 

Shaw,  William,  endorses  League  plan  for  Gospel 
Temperance,  233. 

"  Service,"  one  of  the  watchwords  of  the  Lincoln 
Legion,  244. 

Seward,  conversation  with  Lincoln  by,  14. 

Speed,  Joshua,  testimony  about  Lincoln  by,  20-22. 

Swett,  Leonard,  testimony  about  Lincoln's  absti 
nence  by,  23. 

Sobieski,  John,  endorses  League  plan  for  Gospel 
Temperance,  234. 

Sons  of  Temperance,  Lincoln  a  member  of,  23;  re 
ferred  to  on  page  112. 

Southwest  Tabernacle,  Kansas  City,  202. 

Scovill,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  S.,  endorses  League  plan  for 
Gospel  Temperance,  233. 

Shurtleff,  Prof.  G.  W.,  introduces  Mr.  Russell  at  first 
meeting  of  Anti-Saloon  League,  208;  predicts  a 
powerful  and  permanent  league  against  the 
liquor  traffic,  208. 


256  INDEX 


Temperance  reform,  progress  of  from  a  business 
standpoint,  226-227. 

Temple  of  Honor,  referred  to  on  page  113. 

Thompson,  Mrs.  Judge,  is  called  to  lead  the  first 
woman's  crusade  at  Hillsboro,  141-145. 

Thompson,  President  W.  O.,  endorses  League  plan 
for  Gospel  Temperance,  234. 

United  Friends  of  Temperance,  113. 

Washingtonian  campaign,  effect  of,  225. 

Washington,  George,  195. 

Washingtonian  movement,  beginning  of,  99. 

WTesley,  John,  195. 

Wheeler,  Mr.  Wayne  B.,  attorney  of  the  Ohio  Anti- 
Saloon  League,  220. 

Willard,  Frances,  called  to  leadership  in  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  147;  first  great 
address  of,  147-150;  F.  W.  Gunsaulus'  tribute  to, 
151-153;  John  G.  Whittier's  characterization 
of,  154. 

Wilson,  Rev.  Dr.  Luther  B.,  influential  in  causing 
the  call  for  convention  to  organize  American 
League,  215;  first  Vice-President  of  the  Ameri 
can  League,  215;  elected  President  after  death 
of  President  Price,  215. 

Whitlock,  Prof.  W.  F.,  characterization  of  Superin 
tendent  Howard  H.  Russell  by,  187-191. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  tribute  to  Frances  E.  Willard  by, 
154. 

Woman's  crusade,  beginning  of  at  Hillsboro,  Ohio, 
139-146. 

Woodhull,  Mayor,  of  New  York  welcomes  Father 
Matthew,  92. 


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